This is how we need to face the issue of abortion

[question everything]

of course, no one is "for abortion" and many of us lamented the way Kerry handled it. It was not enough for him to say that he "personally" was against abortion but that was the law.... etc.

What many of us wished he said was that a Kerry Presidency would provide funds for clinics that would teach teenagers how to avoid unwanted pregnancy, and certainly abstinence is a wishful thinking.

The WSJ had an excellent article about this and I will try to get the most relevant paragraphs.

=====

The Wall Street Journal

Winning the Battle On Teen Pregnancy

In poor, rural Denmark, S.C., intensive program of sex education highlights progress across country.
Condoms at the Barber Shop
By BETSY MCKAY
July 22, 2006; Page A1

(snip)

While many schools offer sex-education classes for just a few hours a year, often after school, scarcely a day goes by here without a class, one-on-one counseling session, or a free dinner for parents and their kids. Classes and individual counseling sessions are integrated into the school curriculum and meet during the school day. In eighth-grade classes, staffers from the Teen Life Center show students what condoms look like, how to use them, and how they will help prevent pregnancies and HIV infection. Mrs. Nimmons and her staff drop off condoms at a local laundry, a beauty shop and a barber shop that kids frequent. And unlike most pregnancy-prevention efforts that focus on girls, the program here also actively seeks the participation of boys.

(snip)

Between 1982, when the center opened, and 2004, the county's estimated pregnancy rate fell by nearly two-thirds among girls age 15 to 19, according to data from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. Its teen pregnancy rate is among the lowest in the state. In Allendale County, which is adjacent to Bamberg and has similar demographics but hasn't had the same intensive and uninterrupted prevention effort, the teen pregnancy rate has declined over the past two decades, as has the rest of the nation's. But Allendale's rate has remained one of the highest in the state -- about 2.6 times as high as Bamberg's in 2004.

(snip)

Critics of teen sex education that includes information on contraception attribute the drop in pregnancy rates to increased abstinence and say teachers and counselors should be spending more time teaching students to refrain from sexual activity. Detailed discussions of contraception and how it works only encourage teens to try sex, they say. "If we're going to spend public dollars, we should reinforce the good efforts kids are already making to maintain their chastity," says Michael Fair, a South Carolina state senator.

Since 2001, the federal government has thrown increasing weight behind programs that focus solely on sexual abstinence rather than also giving out information on contraception, as Denmark's program does. Federal appropriations for programs that discourage contraceptive use and focus solely on abstinence rose to $177 million this year from $62 million in 2000. President Bush has proposed $201 million for fiscal 2007. The government doesn't provide overall figures on how much it spends on pregnancy prevention efforts, though money flows through Medicaid, HIV prevention programs and other efforts. The Denmark program derives most of its annual budget from Medicaid, which funds pregnancy-prevention efforts for poor students in South Carolina through a combination of federal and state dollars. At least 80% of the school district's student body qualifies for Medicaid. Recent technical changes state health officials made to Medicaid rules and rates have reduced the number of class hours Mrs. Nimmons can bill to the program. She still isn't sure how this will affect her budget, but she has cut back on some extras she'd been offering, like weekend classes and promotional items.


(snip)

When students complained several years ago that they didn't have money to buy condoms at the local chain drug store, and found it embarrassing to get free ones at the health clinic, Mrs. Nimmons and her staff started dropping them off at a laundry where kids hang out, a beauty shop, and most often, at Supreme Barber Shop. One of the barbers, Johnell Rice, keeps them in a cardboard box on a high shelf in the bathroom. When young teens ask for the condoms, Mr. Rice says he sits them down and explains how to use them. "I tell them this protects you against AIDS and babies too," he says. "It's gonna take away all your fun time, your younger years and her younger years if you don't protect yourself."

(snip)

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115351254567813924.html (subscription)

[beam me up scottie]

1. K & R !

This is exactly what communities should be doing, it's the only way to help kids since the bush administration's War on Education only supports abstinence.

Until we get a Dem in the WH, we should follow the lead of citizens like these who have found an excellent way to teach kids sex education by bypassing the failing policies enacted by politicians who were installed by the "moral" majority and going straight to the kids themselves.

Bravo, Denmark, SC residents!

[NMMNG]

2. Huh

Detailed discussions of contraception and how it works only encourage teens to try sex, they say.

No, it teaches kids how to be safer when they have sex--which they're going to do no matter how many times you tell them not to or how many times they promise they won't.





At least sensible people in this community are doing what the wingnuts won't--providing real education and condoms to the teens.

[question everything]

3. And this is what we find: those who are trained as "abstinence only"

are not prepared when their hormones kick in and the rate of pregnancy is higher among them.

This is what our candidates should say instead of just whining: "I am personally against abortion."