CL – Abstinence only sex-ed causing high teen-pregnancy
In his State of the State address on Tuesday, Gov. Phil Bryant set out as a policy for his administration to tackle the issue of teen pregnancy – a formidable goal.
“Without hesitation, we must begin the public discussion of how to reduce teen pregnancy in Mississippi,” Bryant said. “As you know, we lead the nation in teen pregnancy and consequently, low birth weights and high infant mortality rates. We know a child born to a teen mother almost always has a difficult path to success.”
Even so, we’ll have to wait a bit more to see what the new governor intends to do about it.
As he stated: “I have asked the director of the Department of Human Services and the state health officer to provide me, within 30 days, an aggressive plan to address our teen pregnancy rate and suggestions on how to curb it. We can no longer pretend that teen pregnancy and illegitimacy are non-issues – we must boldly confront the facts and address them.”
We know what doesn’t work!
The state’s “abstinence only” sex education
Clarion Ledger
1/26/12
