Communication and Education

 Many will say that it is the teen’s fault , the media, and even the parents, but the fault lies in our lack of communication. As a society we fail to communicate crucial information about sex. The abstinence only education teaches kids to wait until they are married, but happens when they don’t. Earlier research had documented that the significant drop in teen pregnancy rates in the 1990s overwhelmingly had been the result of more and better use of contraceptives among sexually active teens(Guttmacher 2010).  If we aren’t communicating the risk factors, how do we expect teens to know? We often assume that teens should know about sex, but we neglect to realize that if we aren’t teaching them about sex, who is. Teens share a lot of myths and few fact about sex which further promotes more ignorance amongst teens. President Obama has created a Teen Pregnancy Prevention Incentive. This program was created in order to reform the existing “abstinence only” education. This program is constructed as a competitive grant that states must apply for however this program is geared towards shifting the way teens learn about sex. This is just one of many ways that we can prevent pregnancy. The most important way to curve teen pregnancy is communication at home. If parents are talking to their children about sex, and providing them with comprehensive information, teens will be more informed and take more precautions if and when they engage in sexual activity.