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The Associated Press:
Mississippi now has the nation's highest teen birth rate, displacing Texas and New Mexico for that lamentable title, a new federal report says. . . .Indeed, and if you take a little time to examine the actual CDC report, what you find is that the birth rate (births per 1,000) for females 15-19 breaks down like this:
The three states have large proportions of black and Hispanic teenagers — groups that traditionally have higher birth rates, experts noted.
White.........26.6Ergo, states where blacks and Hispanics constitute a large proportion of the 15-19 population will tend to have high rates of teen pregnancy. Furthermore, the category "Hispanic" encompasses many nationalities, with varying rates of teen pregnancy, so that for instance, those of Mexican origin have a teen birth rate of 92.9, while Puerto Ricans have a teen birth rate of 69.3.
Black..........63.7
Hispanic....83.0
A bit of Census research reveals that the population of Mississippi is 37.1% black and 1.8% Hispanic, whereas Texas is 11.9% black and 35.7% Hispanic, and New Mexico is 2.5% black and 44.0% Hispanic. By comparison, the state with the lowest teen birth rate, New Hampshire, is 95.8% white.
The obvious conclusion, then, is that demographics has a powerful influence on teen pregnancy. Ah, unless you're a liberal fanatic:
While the new report does not explain why [Mississippi's] teen pregnancy rate is increasing, one reason may be the poor quality of its sex ed programs. As the Sexuality Information and Education Center explains, Mississippi focuses heavily on abstinence education and teachers are prohibited from demonstrating how to use contraceptives . . .Right. So what about Gov. Bill Richardson's progressive paradise New Mexico, huh? The teen birth rate there is 64 per 1,000, compared to Mississippi's 68 per 1,000. Why aren't liberals excoriating New Mexico? (Crickets chirping.)
UPDATE: Linked at RCP Best of the Blogs.
UPDATE II: Linked at Nashville Post. BTW, I would like to point out that I personally don't consider it a social tragedy every time a 19-year-old gets pregnant. Unwed pregnancy is more of a problem than teen pregnancy, per se. Maggie Gallagher did a must-read report on this subject 10 years ago. Also, see my post on Famous Teenage Mothers.
UPDATE III: To argue briefly with commenter Richard: Sex education is redundant, wasteful and intrusive. Are we really supposed to believe that the teenage girl who gets pregnant doesn't know that sex causes pregnancy? We are living in a society where accurate information about sex has never been more widely available. Any 12-year-old can go to Borders (or the school library) and find a dozen or more books on the birds-and-bees stuff, to say nothing of what's available on the Internet.
If teenagers are getting pregnant, ignorance cannot be the explanation, so what is it that schools need to educate them about? How to use a condom? Last time I looked, every box of condoms had illustrated instructions on proper usage. If you are too stupid to use a condom properly maybe . . . I don't know . . . you shouldn't be having sex. Yet our enlightened elites insist that anybody who wants schools to focus on telling kids they shouldn't be having sex -- "Hey Kids: Keep Your Britches On!" -- is an irresponsible, anti-science Taliban fundamentalist.
Some people have an annoyingly tautological certainty about the importance of teaching kids the Latin names of their genitalia -- vulva, clitoris, etc., being pretty much the only Latin taught in schools anymore -- as if there were some intrinsic value in that knowledge. It's like believing that, unless you teach kids the Latin names of their digestive organs, they won't be able to eat properly. And yet, in all the debate over sex ed, nobody ever seems to notice the manifest absurdity of that premise.
The advocates of "compehensive sexuality education" (CSE) are not really concerned about addressing any meaningful deficit of useful knowledge. Rather, the CSE agenda is about inculcating a certain attitude toward sex, which is where we encounter the problem of intrusiveness. CSE advocates want to establish as Officially Approved Attitude about sex -- a PC sexual dogma -- and, if you actually take time to read their esoteric literature (as I have), they aren't even secretive about this goal. It is very much about telling people what to think.
The whole point of the sex-ed agenda from Kinsey onward has been to eradicate "old-fashioned" (i.e., "Puritanical" or "Victorian") attitudes toward sex, and they mean to accomplish this through the coercive action of government-imposed education. I am certainly no prudish Victorian, but my inner libertarian is profoundly hostile to schools propagandizing children in this fashion, especially since the schools go out of their way to deceive parents about the actual content and purpose of sex-ed.
UPDATE IV: Linked at American Power.
Is there a breakdown between wed and unwed teen births? That would seem to be an important factor as Hispanics tend to marry much younger than Whites or Blacks, in my experience.
ReplyDeleteThere's only one Planned Parenthood clinic in the whole state of Mississippi, IIRC.
ReplyDeleteIf teens can't access birth control, they're gonna get pregnant. Abstinence education doesn't work but then it isn't supposed to, is it? It's merely designed to make those slutty girls pay for having sex. Nice job, Mississippi. One of these days that state is gonna get tired of being on the top of every bad statistic list.
UPDATE: Linked at RCP Best of the Blogs.
ReplyDeleteNice!
AZ came in fifth and they spun it as great news last night. "We used to be third!"
First of all, I don’t think it’s necessarily fair to dismiss that argument without looking at New Mexico’s sex ed. New Mexico, taking the apparently controversial stance that sex education of some sort should be taught, does have the least reactionary system (of the three) of sex education as both Texas and Mississippi don’t even require sex ed at all. New Mexico, does, however, stress abstinence, receiving over 14 times as much money from the federal government for that purpose than New Hampshire. New Hampshire receives only slightly over 1% of the abstinence funding that Mississippi does.
ReplyDeleteSomeone should graph the relationship between teen pregnancy and the amount of abstinence education grant money received. You’d probably have to do some sort of adjustment for population size (although Mississippi is only slightly more populous than New Mexico and New Hampshire).
Abstinence education is a joke, and if confronted by it, I think I’d laugh. You just have to love reactionaries. I actually went to school in New Hampshire, and they actually explained stuff to us.
All that being said, I’m sure the truth is somewhere between. Demographics certainly have a correlation. I doubt it is racial, probably more of a socioeconomic correlation (I do know that Mississippi and New Mexico are among the poorest states). Less education, less opportunity, less parental involvement, increased likelihood of teen pregnancy (along with lots of other undesirable results). New Hampshire is one of the richest and most educated states. Perhaps the point is, Mr. McCain, that although you can’t exactly change the demographic makeup of a state very easily (and would that be a good thing if we’re talking about race?), you can surely try to provide the kids with some knowledge, and ways to get, birth control and STD prevention.
you can surely try to provide the kids with some knowledge, and ways to get, birth control and STD prevention.
ReplyDeleteFour decades of continued increases in out-of-wedlock birth, abortion, and divorce in the aftermath of the sexual revolution and the increased use of birth control, and people are still peddling this as the solution to, and not the cause of the problem.
Crankycon, are you actually suggesting that not telling them anything about sex works? Please.
ReplyDeleteI know sex really bothers you conservative types, but lets face it: teenagers are going to have sex. They will not wait for marriage.
If you honestly think that people are having kids BECAUSE of increased use of birth control you need to reexamine your biases.
Besides, I’ve actually presented empirical (I know science and conservatism don’t mix much, but hear me out) evidence that abstinence sex ed dollars in those four states actually has a reverse (or at best for your argument, nonexistent) effect. I bet if you did it per capita, you’d get a straightish line from New Hampshire down to Mississippi.
Do you really think that teens will stop having sex because you want them to or pretend that they won’t figure it out?
With the divorce rates at 50% and climbing, teen-agers getting married doesn't sound like such a sound idea. Maybe them not getting pregnant in the first place3 is? Ah, but that would sex education! Yes, many, if not mist5, teens who get pregnant have great ignorance of the facts of life, which is why they need education, not right-wing rants.
ReplyDeleteCrankycon, are you actually suggesting that not telling them anything about sex works?
ReplyDeleteRichard, please tell me where I said that.
I know sex really bothers you conservative types,
As a happily married man, I can tell you . . . you are barking up the wrong tree there.
If you honestly think that people are having kids BECAUSE of increased use of birth control you need to reexamine your biases.
I know that thinking beyond the obvious is something liberals are intellectually incapable of, but the increased use of birth control is not the cause of increased illegitimacy, but is one of the symptoms that explains what is happening.
As sexual attitudes are liberalized, more people are going to have sex. If more people have sex, even with the use of contraception, more people are going to have babies. I know we conservatives are supposedly anti-science, but one of the biological functions of sex is procreation.
Besides, I’ve actually presented empirical (I know science and conservatism don’t mix much, but hear me out) evidence that abstinence sex ed dollars in those four states actually has a reverse (or at best for your argument, nonexistent) effect.
Evidently you have never heard that correlation does not equal causation. Unless of course you think that the rock over there really keeps away bears, in which case, I'll sell it to you for $100.
Do you really think that teens will stop having sex because you want them to or pretend that they won’t figure it out?
Again, I actually didn't say that. But no, it's so much better to argue against a straw man. That way, you actually can win an argument or two.
Ah, but that would sex education!
ReplyDeleteThat would sex education what?
Yes, many, if not mist5 [sic], teens who get pregnant have great ignorance of the facts of life, which is why they need education, not right-wing rants.
There are moments when you just sit back and admire commentary. It's like looking at a Picasso. It's just so . . . beautiful in its ugliness.
Thank you. That was truly a work of art.
Sometimes we can only think the things happenings now a days and pray that someday those teenagers will think first the priority like education and not those experiment things.
ReplyDelete