Contact Name
Barbara Dietsch
562-985-9488

Contact Email
bdietsc@WestEd.org

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
2100 M Street, N.W., Suite 300
Washington, DC 20037

The following excerpts from WHILE THE ADULTS ARE ARGUING, THE TEENS ARE GETTING PREGNANT, a briefing paper produced by the Task Force on Religion and Public Values of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, put the controversy in perspective. Readers are encouraged to read the entire document. (Reprinted with permission.)

"Among the most difficult controversies to resolve are those that stem from deeply-held moral and religious understandings. One such highly charged area is teen sexual activity, pregnancy, and childbearing. Many Americans believe that certain principles of conduct are absolute and inviolable: sex, pregnancy, and childbirth out of wedlock are, in this view, simply wrong. Other Americans disagree on grounds of both religion and secular morality."

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"We should emphasize that most faith traditions-along with most individuals who draw moral guidance from their own experiences and secular sources as distinct from religious sources-adopt a fundamentally affirmative attitude toward human sexuality. Disagreements arise, however, about the normative framework that defines the occasions and boundaries of appropriate sexual expression."

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"The social context of teen pregnancy has changed decisively in recent decades. As recently as 1960, 85 percent of teen births occurred within marriage; today that figure is less than 25 percent. Current public worries about teen pregnancy would probably be far less intense in the absence of this momentous turn away from teen marriage.

The economic context has also changed significantly. In 1960, teens with limited education and skills could still hope to find employment opportunities that would enable them to support their children. Today, that hope is far less realistic."

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"Some people argue for increased efforts to promote abstinence until adulthood (or marriage) as the sole proper response. Others advocate more education about human sexuality that includes a basic acceptance of teen sexual activity and detailed instructions about how to avoid both pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases through contraception. (This approach may be either free-standing or in conjunction with abstinence education.) Still others believe that without measures that offer young people a greater sense of dignity, self-worth, and the future-and, therefore, more compelling reasons to avoid pregnancy and early childbearing-nothing else is likely to work."

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"Some worry that if abstinence is put forward as the only solution, young people who for whatever reason are not persuaded by the pro abstinence position will be left unshielded against the potentially damaging and self-destructive consequences of their poor or misdirected judgment."

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"Yet another argument against abstinence as our sole strategy to prevent teen pregnancy rests on the massive social changes of the past generation. Yes, as recently as 1970 the vast majority of teen girls were virgins-proof that sexual restraint is not so contrary to human nature as to strain the bounds of possibility. But the sharp drop in this proportion over the past twenty-five years suggests that abstinence faces an uphill battle and that the best outcome that we can expect for the foreseeable future will leave large numbers of young people unpersuaded. From this perspective of concern over public health, an important moral obligation is to ensure that sexually active teens do not harm either themselves, their partners, or society in pursuing their sexual expression."

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"Our differences on matters of teen sexual activity and pregnancy are deep. The only alternative to outcomes based on force or intimidation is frank and respectful dialogue."

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"The vigorous debate we need cannot be productive for our society unless all participants take care not to stigmatize or demonize one another. Unfortunately uncivil discussion has been the case-increasingly so-over the past generation."

While the Adults Are Arguing, the Teens Are Getting Pregnant