Miss America's message works

Some people just can't stand to hear the truth, even coming from the lips of the elegant Miss America. \nMiss America pageant officials recently tried to stifle Miss America 2002 Erika Harold's pro-abstinence message. Harold might be good looking, but she also has a smart head on her shoulders. Her abstinence message is working. The Alan Guttmacher Institute reported that increased abstinence among women accounted for approximately one quarter of the drop in the U.S. teen pregnancy rate between 1995 and 1998. AGI also reported last week that the abortion rate among girls ages 15 to 17 decreased 39 percent from 24 to 15 abortions per 1,000 girls. Sarah Brown, the director of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, pointed out that the drop in abortions during the late 1990's correlated with a decline in teen sex, teen pregnancies and teen births.\nBut some continue to argue that the decline in abortions and teen sex is due to teaching contraceptive use in the schools rather than attributing the decline to pro-abstinence education. A local example will serve well to refute such a theory. Kelly McBride, who is a sexuality educator and trainer for Planned Parenthood for South Central Indiana, said in a June 19 Bloomington City Council meeting that she comes into contact with 500 to 800 teens daily. But local abortion rates have risen 28 percent, contrasting dramatically with the drop in the national average. McBride teaches these teens about contraceptives, but doesn't advocate that teens abstain from sex before marriage. These teens wouldn't have gotten pregnant if they weren't having sex.\nAs one of the only sexual educators these teens may encounter, McBride should prescribe Miss America's 100 percent effective method, abstinence, instead of the contraceptive methods that are known to fail. \nAGI's data shows that 90 percent of all women and their partners use birth control. But according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, at least 40 percent of all girls become pregnant before they turn 20.\nWith sexual activity outside of marriage also comes the danger of STDs. Even when barrier-method contraceptives are used, STDs may still pass through skin-to-skin contact. Why? The bacterial or viral germs that cause many STDs (such as human papilloma virus, chlamydia, herpes and syphilis) may infect any area in the male or female genital areas.\nCondoms, in particular, have a bad record for preventing teen STDs. Looking at the evidence, figures from AGI show that although condom usage has doubled among sexually experienced teens, one in four of them will still end up with an STD before graduation. That's 3 million teens a year. \nIt is inconceivable how an adult educator, aware of teenagers' likelihood of contracting STDs and getting pregnant, can nonetheless counsel them to engage in pre-marital sex by teaching them faulty methods. How many teens have to get HIV or face an unwanted pregnancy before educators change their tune and teach teens the truth about the dangers of pre-marital sex? Sex education courses should be more than a game of Russian roulette -- sexual experimentation can be deadly. \nAbstinence works every time. Contraceptives fail much of the time. Which message do teens deserve to hear? Keep teaching abstinence, Miss America. Teens need to hear the truth.