Study Shows Alarming Teen Views on Pregnancy, Contraception

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

It's a sad day in America when almost 20 percent of teens tell government researchers they rely on the rhythm method to prevent pregnancy. But it's what Centers for Disease Control researchers found in a report released earlier this week.

The precise percentage is 17 percent, up from 11 percent eight years ago. The rhythm method results in pregnancy 25 percent of the time, according to the study.

My heart aches for teen girls these days. They're growing up in an Alice-in-Wonderland mirror-image age. Much that was considered taboo in my day is par for the course in theirs. According to the Associated Press:

…more teens also think it's OK for an unmarried female to have a baby, according to a government survey released Wednesday. The report may help explain why the teen pregnancy rate is no longer dropping like it was.

It is certainly not OK for teens to bear children out of wedlock. The data all point to less education, more poverty, and an endless cycle of it, when teens have babies.

Today's culture is certainly part of the reason why more teen girls think unwed motherhood is OK. But churches that lobby teens heavily not to have abortions are also giving the ones who do get pregnant no choice other than to bring those pregnancies to term. The churches benefit by increasing the number of followers. The teens do not. Their lives would have been much more rewarding if they postponed parenthood until after they were educated and married.

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