Christian Forums

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • Focus on the Family

    Strengthening families through biblical principles.

    Focus on the Family addresses the use of biblical principles in parenting and marriage to strengthen the family.

  • Guest, Join Papa Zoom today for some uplifting biblical encouragement! --> Daily Verses
  • The Gospel of Jesus Christ

    Heard of "The Gospel"? Want to know more?

    There is salvation in no other, for there is not another name under heaven having been given among men, by which it behooves us to be saved."

Why is the Pre-Teen Pregnancy Rate Dropping?

2024 Website Hosting Fees

Total amount
$905.00
Goal
$1,038.00
M

mick75

Guest
reluctant to what is being said in the etheist media abstinence programs are making huge
success ...
columnistcrouse2.gif

By Janice Shaw Crouse
Friday, August 3, 2007
*************************************************

Newly-released data indicates great news about the nation's children –– girls aged 10-14 –– are not getting pregnant nearly as often as they did just a few years ago. This is further evidence that abstinence programs are having an impact, that they are making a difference for teens –– including children as young as 10 years of age.

How can anyone hesitate to recommend abstinence for children? How, in good conscience, can a supposedly-responsible adult support public policies that would communicate to such girls and boys that "safe-sex" is an appropriate option? Even if pregnancy were not a consideration, youngsters are not physically or psychologically ready for sexual activity. Even if morality were not an issue, the earlier a child begins sexual activity, the more partners he or she will have and the more risk he or she will face for sexually-transmitted diseases –– now at epidemic stages among youths under 25.

Looking at the trend of the pregnancy rate of 10-14 year-olds we see the amazing turn-around that has taken place as the abstinence message has taken root. This means not only that more of the nation's young girls will be able to realize their dreams and goals for the future; it also means fewer precious babies will grow up in the crushing grip of poverty
pregnancyrates.gif

It is imperative that we understand that an increase in abortions is not what has reduced births to young adolescents, as many would have guessed. Fewer births are occurring because there are fewer pregnancies. The sharp decline in births to young adolescents (down 43 percent between 2002 and their peak in 1992) occurred at the same time as a similar decline occurred in abortions to young adolescents (down 36 percent from 1992 to 2002). Congress should consider these facts and not be swayed by the special interests who have profited for decades by providing government-funded abortions to the poor and needy.

Amazingly, data from the left (The Alan Guttmacher Institute, et. al.) show these dramatic reversal of the trends, too. The websites of Planned Parenthood and likeminded groups express near panic as the facts threaten to undermine the monopoly the left previously has had on government funding. Yet they continue to oppose abstinence education with the flimsiest of arguments and manufactured evidence.

How can a legislator vote for legislation which would curtail the implementation of abstinence programs when the dramatic decline in birth rates and abortions to young girls reflects the more widespread implementation of abstinence programs across the nation?

Yet, the House just passed H.R. 3162 –– a bill that may hamper the implementation of abstinence programs at a time when the drop in pregnancies, births, and abortions for the youngest teens and pre-teens –– girls just 10-14 years of age –– is progressing in such a positive fashion. Amazingly though, the people who talk the loudest about caring for children are the ones who want to deny them access to the truth about the benefits of abstinence.

Reading some of the criticisms of teaching abstinence, I am reminded of the comic strip dodge, "It was already broken. I didn't break it. Nobody saw me break it. You can't prove that I broke it." The left revision goes like this: "It can't work. It has never worked. Nobody can measure it working. You can't prove it was the abstinence program that caused the change."

Yet people with common sense can look at the reversal of the trend in birthrates to young teens and pre-teens and react in the similar manner to the British economist and politician, Lord Courtney, who said, "After all, facts are facts, and . . . there are some easy figures the simplest must understand, and the astutest cannot wriggle out of." Sadly, Lord Courtney had not run into one of today's pathetic feminists and their liberal supporters who are hell-bent on de-funding government support for teaching abstinence to the nation's children and teens.

One can only demand in frustration and righteous anger, "Why?"
Janice Shaw Crouse, Ph.D., Senior Fellow at the Beverly LaHaye Institute, the think tank for Concerned Women for America, is a recognized authority on domestic issues, the United Nations, cultural and women’s concerns.


http://townhall.com/columnists/JaniceSh ... e_dropping
 
I post this not as a rebuttal to the OP but to demonstrate those who oppose Abstinence Education are screaming louder than those who advocate abstinence. Doing a search for "abstinence not working" (without the quotes) yeilds many "studies" that say it doesn't work.

US Abstinence Education Not Working

The study discovered that abstinence education had zero effect in terms of the numbers of students forgoing sex. The percentage of students who refrained from sex in both the abstinence program and non-abstinence program groups was around 50%. Of the 50% that was more sexually active, the age at which the first sexual encounter occurred was 14 years and nine months. The study also found that 21.4% of Grade 12 students reported having sex with four or more persons. Of those Grade 12's who were sexually active, 44.6% didn't use condoms.

-----------------------



On the other hand if one searches for "abstinence is working" (without quotes) you'll find "studies" that say it does, though not as many.

Study says abstinence program working

Baylor's Dr. Jeff Tanner says, "In the areas where we have this program, we see a reduction in teen pregnancy rates of 30-50 percent, which is well above the state decline."

One thing that I have noted is the criteria with which any of the studies are conducted differ. Depending on the parameters such as age group, whether the research looks at "having sex" or pregnancy, the country in which the studies were conducted and other various parameters will result in differing data. Conducting reasearch based on what has not occured to uphold a cause is much more difficult than proving a cause by citing what has occured. And it's much easier to refute, criticize and downplay what never happened.

Yet, if for any reason abstinence education is tossed on the trash heap and pregnancies rise again I have little doubt it won't change anyone's mind who oppose it. Abstinence education is a sexual morality, safe-sex is simply a physical, mechanical behavior to have sex regardless if having sex is immoral. Some may say having safe-sex is moral but then that too dumps the morality of not having sex in the first place.
 
We don't concern ourselves with the cause... only with the result. Today the focus is on fixing the consequence through counseling, abortion, anti-depressants and a vast number of court cases of who gets what, who's responsible for what bills and who's children are whose through DNA testing.
We say, "Practice safe-sex!" focusing only on the physical issues ignoring the emotional and psychosomatic consequences that go along with intimacy between two people when things go wrong due to irresponsible sexual activity. There's no such thing as a condom for the heart.

There is much wisdom in Christ's words that predominately address issues of the heart and soul concerning interaction with others. And there is much wisdom in God's sexual morality.
 
Amen, P-L: good OP too

I'm sure Proverbs 7 has kept many a teen on track - see http://www.BibleGateway.org

Proverbs 7
Warning Against the Adulteress
1 My son, keep my words
and store up my commands within you.
2 Keep my commands and you will live;
guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.

3 Bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.

4 Say to wisdom, "You are my sister,"
and call understanding your kinsman;

5 they will keep you from the adulteress,
from the wayward wife with her seductive words.

6 At the window of my house
I looked out through the lattice.

7 I saw among the simple,
I noticed among the young men,
a youth who lacked judgment.

8 He was going down the street near her corner,
walking along in the direction of her house

9 at twilight, as the day was fading,
as the dark of night set in.

10 Then out came a woman to meet him,
dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent.

11 (She is loud and defiant,
her feet never stay at home;

12 now in the street, now in the squares,
at every corner she lurks.)

13 She took hold of him and kissed him
and with a brazen face she said:

14 "I have fellowship offerings [a] at home;
today I fulfilled my vows.

15 So I came out to meet you;
I looked for you and have found you!

16 I have covered my bed
with colored linens from Egypt.

17 I have perfumed my bed
with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.

18 Come, let's drink deep of love till morning;
let's enjoy ourselves with love!

19 My husband is not at home;
he has gone on a long journey.

20 He took his purse filled with money
and will not be home till full moon."

21 With persuasive words she led him astray;
she seduced him with her smooth talk.

22 All at once he followed her
like an ox going to the slaughter,
like a deer stepping into a noose [c]

23 till an arrow pierces his liver,
like a bird darting into a snare,
little knowing it will cost him his life.

24 Now then, my sons, listen to me;
pay attention to what I say.

25 Do not let your heart turn to her ways
or stray into her paths.

26 Many are the victims she has brought down;
her slain are a mighty throng.

27 Her house is a highway to the grave, [d]
leading down to the chambers of death.

Footnotes:

Proverbs 7:14 Traditionally peace offerings
Proverbs 7:22 Syriac (see also Septuagint Hebrew fool
Proverbs 7:22 The meaning of the Hebrew for this line is uncertain.
Proverbs 7:27 Hebrew Sheol

& Proverbs 31

God bless!

Ian
 
Back
Top