May is the eighth annual National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month, a reminder that our country and our state can do better.
The U.S. teen birthrate increased for the second year in a row, and an estimated 750,000 American teens become pregnant each year. Florida's teen pregnancy rate is the sixth-highest. Florida's teen birth rate also increased in 2006 for the first time in 15 years and is 3 percent higher than the national average.
There is a crisis in Florida. Our young people face some of the worst sexual health outcomes in the country, but still the state accepts federal funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. Florida received approximately $13 million in federal money in 2008 for these ineffective, harmful programs. A 2007 study, commissioned by the federal government, found no evidence that abstinence-only programs curb sexual behavior.
There is a crisis in Florida. Our young people face some of the worst sexual health outcomes in the country, but Florida accepts federal funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs.
Florida received approximately $13 million in federal money in 2008 for these failed programs.
Dr. William Colliton’s letter, “Chastity education is the way to go” (March 5), could not be more timely. A report was released recently by the Sexuality Information and Education Counsel of the United States titled “Sex education in the Sunshine State: How abstinence-only-until-marriage programs are keeping Florida’s youth in the dark.”
