Jamirah McCloud

Robin Kramer
CAS 138T
April 6, 2016
Lets Put a Hold on It
The life that you live has an affect on more than just you. A large portion of the
world believes in sayings that are similar to it takes a village. The reason for that is
because no matter where you are in the world, society depends on each individual.
However, in America, which is an individualistic society, we have a tendency to turn our
backs away from our neighbors problems instead of offering them a helping hand. This
is as true with any problem as is the case with teenage pregnancy. You may be
wondering how providing any form of assistance to a harlequin girl would be of any
benefit to you, and which is what will be covered as it is explained why creating an
environment where sex is not a taboo subject is the best option in lowering teen
pregnancy rates and helping our society overall. If we ignite a policy that begins to
eliminate teen pregnancy we not only help our society as a whole, but we also begin to
help individuals before their mistakes are even perceived. The policy that will be
examined is the act of normalizing the culture of sex into America.
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy is an
organization that does extensive research in regards to the effects of teenage
pregnancy and the reasons why it is an issue that must be tended to. They state that
the national cost of teen childbearing to the tax payer is $9.4 billion dollars per year
(The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.) However, it is

McCloud 2
important to note that this is the cost after saving $12 billion dollars due to the nearly
50% decline in teen birthrate between 1991 and 2010.
In the state of Pennsylvania alone the costs of teen childbearing were $409
million in 2010 (The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.)
The effects are more than just a detrimental cost on the tax payers dollar, the child of
the mother is also affected as that child finds him or herself in a position of lesser
opportunity than their peers whose parents waited to have children. For those within the
cycle of poverty, they find that the costs associated with public health care (Medicaid
and CHIP); increased risk of participation in child welfare; and, for children who have
reached adolescence or young adulthood, increased risk of incarceration and lost tax
revenue due to decreased earnings and spending. Total costs also factor in the negative
consequences experienced by the teen mother and the father of her child, primarily in
terms of lost tax revenue due to their decreased earnings and spending. In other
words, these are the children who begin to fill up prison cells into their adulthood. These
are the children that have trouble with being able to contribute to society because of
ailments that are not properly treated and thus prevents them from attaining a proper
education. Are you beginning to see how your neighbors actions affect you?
Also, the rural areas within America have a higher teen pregnancy rate when
being compared the cities within America. The reason for this lies in the difference
between the way that the resources in regards to sex are spread amongst separate
regions. Rural America faces more barriers when attempting to attain access to
contraception than the teenagers who live in the city for a variety of reasons ranging

McCloud 3
from the distance of the nearest health clinic to the way that many schools continue to
hold onto the notion that abstinence-only education is the only way (Culp-Ressler.)
Aside from the way that abstinence-only education has failed more than it has
succeeded in the rural areas of America it is important to acknowledge that the age that
people are getting married now is much higher than it has been in the past due to the
fact that most people wait until after graduating college to even think about getting
married. Even the adults that hold the belief the teens should wait until marriage note
that most people are not going to actually wait that long. Forty-seven percent think girls
should wait until they are married to have sexual intercourse, and 44 percent think boys
should wait until they are married; the difference is not statistically significant. Nearly
nine out of 10 (89 percent), though, don't think girls will wait that long; the number is
similar for boys (91 percent) (Sex Education in America.) So why would we place so
much faith onto a concept that when really reflected upon, calculates for error.
As we can see, taking the route of abstinence-only education is not the most
efficient way of stopping teen pregnancy. Why? Well, this form of sexual education is
based on a theory that teenagers should not be taught about sex because they should
not be engaged in sexual activity to begin with. In fact, abstinence education curricula
often lack very basic facts about contraception, pregnancy, sexual assault, and effective
barriers against sexually transmitted diseases. Some abstinence-only courses, such as
the health class in California that instructs students to prevent STDs with plenty of
rest, teach blatant misinformation(Culp-Ressler.) Due to this misinformation many
females, who were taught with the abstinence-only curriculum, are actively choosing not
to use any form of contraception (Culp-Ressler.) Thus, leading to an increase in
teenage pregnancy.

McCloud 4
In comparison to Americas high rates of teen pregnancy there is the
Netherlands low rate of teen pregnancy which happens to be one of the lowest in the
world (International Teen Pregnancy Statistics.) The reason that the Netherlands is able
to hold such a low rate of teen pregnancy is because sex is treated as natural part
human existence, not something to be ashamed about (Wetzstein). When treating sex
as something that most people experience, the need to be taboo about the subject
surprisingly lessens. The significance in this information is that the propaganda of
shame on teenagers who have sex is lessened thus creating an environment where the
teenagers feel safe to explore their sexual desires.
Along with this idea of safety is the fact that the teenagers feel more comfortable
to go buy contraception and use it, which is a concept that is used in the Netherlands as
well (Culp-Ressler.) It also helps to lessen the amount of teenagers that lie about their
sexual activity to their doctor. All of which creates an environment where the teenagers
are held responsible for their actions and are able to lessen their chances of teen
pregnancy.
Do not mistake the way that the Dutch handles their teen pregnancy as one that
encourages teenagers to have sex. It is potent to acknowledge that this is a means of
creating an environment that is focused on pregnancy prevention, which has been
extremely successful considering the only European nations that have lower rates of
teen pregnancy are Switzerland and Denmark (Dutch Teen Pregnancy Rate among
Lowest in the World) who both also have a strong focus on contraceptive education and
teaching the youth about sex instead of using Americas method ignorance is bliss.
Studies have found that the availability of contraceptives and of sexual and
contraceptive education were more decisive factors of teen pregnancy than the rate of
sexual exposure (Narring.) This information comes from other studies that shows that

McCloud 5
the correlation between the age of having sex and teen pregnancy is not corollary. In
fact, the age of sexual activity is the same in Europe as is the case in America.
However, the rate of teenage pregnancy holds a significant difference (Narring).
While some of the ways that the Dutch teach their adolescents about sex may be
surprising such as condom demonstrations for 10 year olds, trips to sex shops for older
teenagers, and cartoon videos on how to masturbate it certainly holds a great effect
(Donnelly.) The most important part of the curriculum is giving the teenagers to discuss
the moral and emotional implications such as reasons to have sex, what to say if a boy
refuses to wear a condom and how to maintain self-respect (Donnelley.)
This is why I propose a policy that begins to integrate sex into our everyday lives
instead of viewing it as a crude act that teenagers should not take part in. Sex is a
natural component of life; if it werent we wouldnt have drives to take part in any form of
sexual acts. The Netherlands and Sweden have some of the lowest pregnancy rates in
the world only being beaten by Japan who happens to have a higher abortion rate than
the two European countries. That means if we, Americans, begin to follow the suit of the
Europeans we would find ourselves with a lower teenage pregnancy rate for the best
cost. We spend $9.4 billion dollars on children that arent even ours as taxpayers.
Instead of attributing all of that money to teenage mothers we could begin to use that
money to create education programs that teach about what sex is. In an article
published by The Guardian some of the largest consumers of pornography are school
children (Campbell). Theres a survey that suggests that the average teenager, aged 14
to 17, claims to watch 90 minutes of porn a week (Campbell.) With the youth watching
porn and assuming that porn is the way sex is meant to be they are setting their sex

McCloud 6
lives impossible standards. Also, considering in most pornographies do not use
condoms in their videos, the youth is taught unsafe sexual habits.
Ignorance is bliss is not what should be thought of when it comes teenage
pregnancy; for that reason, we should begin to teach our youth the truth about what sex
actually is. After all, if they are curious they are going to find the information and it is in
their best interest not to be misinformed. If we do not teach our youth about what sex is
then they will learn on their own from sources that glorifies the act instead of learning
about all of the serious consequences.
Teaching about sex will not stop the motion for abstinence, in fact it may help
increase abstinence, by being the choice of the teenager. The concept of abstinence is
not bad, but it is not the best choice. America has been using the abstinence-only
education for longer than necessary with lagging results. There are only 7% of
Americans who believe that sex should not be taught in schools which means that well
over the majority would not take offense to their children learning about sex in school
(Sex Education in America.) The most controversial issue that comes up when speaking
of teenage knowledge of sex and contraception falls heavily on the side of
contraception.
Even still, it is the opinion of the minority who thinks that teenagers should not
have access to birth control without consent coming first from their parents. Which
proves that a majority of Americans are okay with teenagers being taught about sexual
education. The numbers do not lie, when teenagers are taught about the effects of
being sexually active and given the tools to protect themselves they are more likely to
engage in safe sex and therefore lessen the rates of teenage pregnancy.

McCloud 7
Works Cited
Campbell, Denis. "Porn: The New Sex Education." The Guardian.com. The Guardian,
30 Mar. 2009. Web.
Culp-Ressler, Tara. "GOP Platform Lies About Abstinence Educations Effectiveness."
ThinkProgress RSS. CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS ACTION FUND,
29 Aug. 2012. Web. 06 Apr. 2016.
Culp-Ressler, Tara. "Teen Pregnancy Is Most Common in Rural America, Where There
May Be More Barriers to Birth Control." ThinkProgress RSS. CENTER FOR
AMERICAN PROGRESS ACTION FUND, 22 Feb. 2013. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.
Donnelly, Laura. "Learning Dutch Lessons on Teen Pregnancy." The Telegraph.
Telegraph Media Group, 30 Dec. 2007. Web. 05 Apr. 2016.
"Dutch Teen Pregnancy Rate among Lowest in the World." Dutch Daily News RSS.
DutchDailyNews, 15 Oct. 2013. Web. 05 Apr. 2016.
"International Teen Pregnancy Statistics." International Comparison '.org':. International
Comparison, n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2016.
Narring, Francoise, Pierre-Andre Michaud, and Vinit Sharm. "Demographic and
Behavioral Factors Associated with Adolescent Pregnancy in Switzerland."
Guttmacher Institute. Guttmacher Institute, 16 June 2005. Web. 06 Apr. 2016.
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. (2013). Counting It
Up: Key Data. Washington, DC: Author.
"Sex Education in America." NPR. NPR, 24 Feb. 2004. Web. 05 Apr. 2016.
Wetzstein, Cheryl. "Teen Pregnancy Low in sleepover Country of the Netherlands."
Washington Times. The Washington Times, 20 Nov. 2011. Web. 05 Apr. 2016.

McCloud 8