May 2, 2007

TellThem! Spotlight Blog

Forrest L. Alton, MSPH, CHES,Executive Director SC Campaign to Prevent Teenage Pregnancy

This May-NO Time for Complacency

The message bears repeating – “there is no time for complacency”! Despite recent declines over the last decade nearly 10,000 teen girls become pregnant in South Carolina each year ultimately resulting in the 17th highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation. A young girl under the age of 20 gets pregnant in our state every 56 minutes!
Since its inception, in 1994, the SC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy (Campaign) has worked to address this critically important issue through five mission-based areas of programming: education, technical assistance, public awareness, advocacy and research. The Campaign has established itself as the leader and quality resource for age-appropriate, comprehensive, science based approaches to teen pregnancy prevention in South Carolina. Guided by research and an understanding that an issue as complex as teen pregnancy requires a solution that is equally complex, the Campaign works on the state level to increase awareness and understanding of the issue, and to promote a comprehensive approach to prevention.
May is “Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month” – an opportunity for all of us to speak up and speak out on this critically important issue. Our young people deserve a renewed focus on an age-appropriate, comprehensive approach to teen pregnancy prevention. Did you know…
• A 2004 survey found that 81% of South Carolina’s registered voters support sex education that contains information on BOTH abstinence and contraception;• Research shows that sex education programs inclusive of information on abstinence and contraception can be effective in increasing the number of youth who remain abstinent; increasing the number of sexually active youth who use contraception; and ultimately decreasing teen pregnancy;• A recent national study of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs found that “youth in the (abstinence-only-until-marriage) program group were no more likely than (other) youth to have abstained from sex”;• According to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey nearly 3 out of 4 South Carolina high school students will have had sex prior to graduation, and 1 in three young people in South Carolina did not use a condom the last time they had sex. Clearly our young people need more information about BOTH abstinence and contraception – not just one or the other.
This May speak up and speak out to protect our state’s most valuable asset – youth! To find out more information about the SC Campaign and how you can get more involved with teen pregnancy prevention programs in your area, please visit www.teenpregnancysc.org.
Filed under: Uncategorized — TellThem @ 1:37 pm
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