Word: birthed
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...Adolescents are especially foggy on the subject of contraception. A National Opinion Research Center survey of teenage mothers found that few were familiar with the IUD, and most, says Researcher Pat Mosena, "didn't even know what the diaphragm was." Mistaken notions about the health risks of the birth control pill are rampant. All this may help explain why, according to John Hopkins researchers, only about one in three sexually active American girls between ages 15 and 19 uses contraceptives at all. And many who do use them have a rather weak grasp of the methodology: one-quarter...
...this naiveté and ineptitude coupled with less openness in American society generally about birth control that, according to Guttmacher researchers, constitute one of the most striking differences between American adolescents and their European peers. In Sweden teenagers are sexually active even earlier than they are in the U.S., and they are exposed to even more explicit television. However, the Swedish National Board of Education has provided curriculum guidelines that ensure that, starting at age seven, every child in the country receives a thorough grounding in reproductive biology and by age ten or twelve has been introduced to the various types...
...country has no mandated sex-education program, teens can obtain contraceptive counseling at government-sponsored clinics for a minimal fee. In addition, the Dutch media have played an important role in educating the public, says Dr. Evert Ketting of the Dutch Mental Health Center, citing frequent broadcasts on birth control, abortion and related issues. "We've been told that no Dutch teenager would consider having sex without birth control," says Guttmacher Spokeswoman Jane Murray. "It would be like running a red light...
...message that contraception is bad is often reinforced by parents, who are loath to admit that their children are sexually experienced. "I went to my mom five different times to see if she could at least get me to a doctor to get me on birth control," recounts Nancee Mason, 19, from Pontiac, Mich., who has a nine-month-old son. "But my mom is the kind of person who, if you mention sex, she turns all red and clams...
According to the most recent statistics, almost 30% of U.S. abortions are performed on teenagers. Abortions seem to be commonest among the affluent. "Upper-middle-class girls look at abortion as a means of birth control," says Myra Wood Bennett, a county health official in southern Illinois. The poorer girls, she notes, simply cannot afford it. Federal funding of most abortions for low-income women was barred by Congress in 1976; only nine states have stepped into the breach, providing for abortions without restrictions...