Teen Pregnancy Increase

After a 14-year decline the teen pregnancy rate rapidly jumped last year. The Washington Post reported last year that after 14 years of steady decline there was a significant increase of 3 percent.

New data suggests that the US is facing a teen pregnancy crisis and that national abstinence only programs in schools are not working.  Makes sense when you look at what the media teaches teens. The media teaches that abstinence doesn’t work; that teens need to be safe.

But, confused messages just don’t work, especially when television shows like Gossip Girl and Sex in the City glorify casual sex and show no consequences.

This year the Washington Post reports a clear link between teens who watch a lot of television featuring “flirting, necking, discussion of sex and sex scenes are much more likely than their peers to get pregnant or get a partner pregnant…”

The study tracked 700 12-to-17-year-olds for three years and found that teens that viewed the most sexual content on television were about two times as likely to be involved in a pregnancy as those who viewed the least.

So, what does this mean for your teens?  It means that sexual content on television has actually doubled in the last few years. You’ve seen it because I know I have. I was shocked to see one of the first episode of 90210 include a girl performing oral sex on a boy. Nothing was shown, of course, but it was quite obvious what was happening.

These types of shows highlight only positive aspects of sex but not the risks. But what teen would watch those types of shows?