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The Forum > Article Comments > Sex education, teenage pregnancy and the abortion debate > Comments

Sex education, teenage pregnancy and the abortion debate : Comments

By Lyn Allison, published 9/12/2004

Lyn Allison argues that there are other issues involved with the abortion debate and it needs a national approach.

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It is fantastic to see the level of commitment Senator Lyn Allison has to this current debate on sex education. I know she is aware and supportibve of a great new innovative sex edcuation course just launched called 'Sexual Health for Life'. This course is the first of its kind in Australia and causing much excitement amongst schools, teachers and educators like myself. It seems that finally somebody has produced a great resource - everyone knows it is needed, the statistics speak for themselves, so are the Government going to fund 'Sexual Health for Life' and make it available to every teenager NOW before more teengers leave school ignorant of STIs and contraception? Most school Principals seem to be getting review copies of this new course and more information can be found at www.sexedco.com

Congratulations to the author for finally providing a solution to the shocking abortion, teenage pregnancy and STI rates we have in this country.
Posted by Amy, Thursday, 9 December 2004 5:01:28 PM
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Chlamydia rates are rising, especially amongst teenagers. It is usually referred to as the "silent disease" because it often shows no symptoms. If left untreated, Chlamydia can lead to infertility in both men and women. The abortion figures in Australia are shocking but this country also faces a more serious problem of infertility in future generations because of lack of education to teenagers now.

I have recently bought a copy of this new course written by Ian McAllister and quite frankly, it should be put into every school straight away next year. The distance learning approach to sex education it uses, takes away the fear and embarrassment many parents and teachers have about discussing sex with teenagers.
Posted by Bal, Thursday, 9 December 2004 5:22:12 PM
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For the first time in Australian history, there are now more abortions taking place amongst teenagers than actual births. THATS JUST OUTRAGEOUS! It's great and very honourable of Senator Allison to take the lead and keep the pressure up on the debate but what are the current Government going to do about these terrible statistics?

Urgent funding needs to come from Tony Abbott - Minister for Health and Dr Brendan Nelson - Minister for Education. The solution to this huge problem requires good sex education to reduce the high rates of teenage pregnancies, abortions and rising rates sexually transmitted infections.

It doesn't take a genius to work out that it would be cheaper to fund every teenager in Australia to do some sort of sex education course like sexedco.com than to fund the 100,000 plus abortions currently being paid by tax payers every year. It would also be a smart investment for all our futures.

This debate isn't about whether women should have abortions or not or by when, its about preventing them in the first place with good education. If something new has come along, then it has to be worth trying even it only saves one life.
Posted by Petar Ugrinic, Thursday, 9 December 2004 8:19:38 PM
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A£300m to fight sexual health crisis Nov 25 2004 Liverpool Echo UK

The UK Government has pledged to invest A£300 million (Approx $720 Million)into tackling the nation's sexual health crisis.

UK Health Secretary John Reid said the money would be put in over three years to modernise and transform sexual health services in England.

The extra money will also include a A£50 million advertising campaign in a bid to stop rising rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

The last major campaign to raise awareness of Aids and HIV was seen in the 1980s, with hard-hitting TV ads featuring tombstones engraved with the words "Don't die of ignorance".

The Government programme was announced as figures from the Health Protection Agency showed that 53,000 people were now living with HIV in the UK, with growing rates in other STIs.

Last week's Public Health White Paper included measures to tackle sexual diseases in England.

This will include a chlamydia screening programme to cover the whole of the country by March 2007, with A£80 million to help achieve this.

There will also be pilot schemes to offer screening in areas not traditionally used, such as pharmacies.

Dr Reid said the plan was to make improving sexual health a priority.

"Sexually transmitted infections have been rising steadily over the past few years. Rates have virtually trebled among men and women over the last 10 years. Prevention messages are not getting through. We need to act now on sexual health - and make it a priority," Dr Reid said.

MR Abbott ????
Posted by UK Sex Ed Debate, Friday, 10 December 2004 9:16:45 AM
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Abstinence is probably very good advice. It makes sense to not put yourself in a situation which could result in unfortunate consequences. I would certainly not like to be a teenager who has to make a decision of whether to terminate or to carry to term. And it is a decision which can't be put off for very long.

Unfortunately, although as Senator Allison shows teenage pregnancies are declining in Australia, many teenagers are not taking up this good advice. So, other ways around the problem have to be explored. It is obvious that policymakers and education experts have to examine what is happening in countries similar to Australia where teenage pregnancies are much lower than ours. The Netherlands and Switzerland appear to be two good examples. The US seems not to be a very good example given the figures. However, I wonder if the figures of teenage pregancies there differ from state to state. Senator Allison didn't say. But if so, let's look at the successful states and see what they're doing right.

Posted by DavidJS, Friday, 10 December 2004 9:44:56 AM
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I have been working with young people for over 12 years and the whole topic of sex, contraception, abortion is obvioulsy a regular conversation. The statistics are staggering and sad and as with any form of statistical information it is what is done with it that matters. So what is Australia doing with this information? It is great to see a push for improved, up to date and relevant sex education. As much as I would prefer the whole abstinence apporach the reality is that young people will explore the whole area of their sexuality. It would be idealistic and unrealistic to think that young people will not experiment in this area and just abstain. The statistics from America sadly show us this. The abstinence only approach, as good as it is, is not being as successful as they would like. There needs to be a balanced approach to the subject and abstinence does need to be presented as a 100% fail safe method to prevent pregnancy and STI's, and also in the areas of drugs and alcohol. Yet if that is not going to be the choice we have a responsiblity to educate our young people on how to care for themselves and respect the partner.

There are few, in fact only one current and relevant resource that does this to my knowledge. The team at "Sexual Health for Life" have done a great job at developing a resource that nails this topic.

We have a responsibilty to the next generation to at least equip them to make educated decisions. Not just on the options available but also the untold side effects of the pain, emotional hurt and possible regret that can come from making bad decisions. This I know is not a popular line of thought to be this real with young people, but that's the way young people like it, to be real.

So what are we doing with the information we have?
Posted by philby, Friday, 10 December 2004 12:14:04 PM
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It’s good to see Senator Allison raise the issue of teenage pregnancy, and that she believes a national approach is needed, taking into account the needs of women.

However a few very important facts were omitted from the article.

Firstly, yes, teenager mothers often struggle. But abortion isn’t a benign solution either. Research shows that teenagers are at even greater risk of psychological and emotional damage from abortion than older women. It’s not that teenage pregnancy is such a disaster, it’s more that our community doesn’t support them adequately.

Second, within sexual health programs, education about relationships is an absolutely essential ingredient. All the technical expertise in the world won’t help young people, unless they know how to navigate interpersonal relationships. Especially, beware taking advice from the UK’s Teenage Pregnancy strategy of 2001. Since then, they have experienced an epidemic of STDs and a rise in teenage pregnancies. Their strategy was to have earlier and more explicit sex education – despite research that found that many students simply wanted to learn to say “no”. An English study in 2002, however, showed that “the belief that there are alternatives to sexual intercourse in romantic/sexual relationships and the intention to resist unwanted sexual activities were significantly correlated with delayed sexual intercourse.” (Abraham et al. Cognitive impact of a research-based school sex education programme. Psychology and Health, December 2004;19(6):689-703). In the UK, as condom use rises, so too does emergency contraception.

Put simply, we must not follow the UK’s lead until their sexual health strategies actually show good results.

It’s impossible to say that proper abstinence education (not the same as “just say no” education, and as opposed to harm reduction strategies) doesn’t work, because our government has not supported it in any consistent way. It would also stand in direct contradiction to the hyper-sexualised culture which teenagers are exposed to every day. At the same time, we must not make the mistake of assuming that teenagers are instinctual animals with no self-control. If they can’t stop themselves from having sex, why assume that they will use contraception responsibly? If they are taught that sexual activity is normal and healthy even in early teenage years, how are they to resist it even if they don’t want it? (few teenagers want to be ‘abnormal’ and ‘frigid’.)

Third, don’t get too excited about emergency contraception. A Scottish study gave 17,800 women advance supplies of emergency contraception at home. In the authors’ words, “no effect on abortion rates was demonstrated with advanced provision of EC. The results of this study suggest that widespread distribution of advanced supplies of EC through health services may not be an effective way to reduce the incidence of unintended pregnancy in the UK.” (Glasier A et al. Advanced provision of emergency contraception does not reduce abortion rates. Contraception 2004 May;69(5):361-6). This study is simply too large and well-conducted to be ignored. Other studies show that increasing access of teenagers to emergency contraception certainly increases use, but fails to significantly change the pregnancy rate. There are very good reasons for this, the main reason being that pregnancy does not usually result from a one-off ‘accident’ or contraceptive failure – it takes place in the context of a risky lifestyle. Similarly, abortion will not be prevented by emergency contraception partly because the ‘causes’ of abortion are so much more complex than one sexual act. As Germaine Greer says, abortion is the last in a long line of non-choices.

I would urge Senator Allison to remember that reducing the abortion rate requires two separate strategies: (a) preventing unwanted pregnancy, and (b) making sure women don’t feel abortion is the only option when they face unplanned pregnancy. Both will be necessary, and we need a national debate on abortion to advance women’s interests.
Posted by ruby, Friday, 10 December 2004 3:10:44 PM
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It was Tony Abbott who told us that there are 100,000 abortions a year in Australia, in order to launch his latest "abortion debate". He was immediately challenged by professionals who argued that this number is too high (old data, contestable definitions, dodgy statistics). Only a few days before, it was reported that 100,000 Iraqis have been killed in the war. This report was immediately challenged by the Howard Government, who argued that this number is too high (the US is not counting anyway). The question is, do numbers count?
Posted by grace pettigrew, Saturday, 11 December 2004 7:58:54 PM
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When I was 19, one of my friends fell pregnant from a one-night-stand. She was against abortion and decided to have the child.

Now, 7 years later, her son has learning and behavioural difficulties, she is divorced (the man she married was not her son's father) and she is 8 weeks pregnant to her new boyfriend of 4 months.

It's a sad truth that none of her family nor her teachers really cared for her future when she was in her late teens. So she learned not to either. My friend has never had a career or even a steady job, and yet she is an intelligent, lively woman.

Before she fell pregnant, I remonstrated with her about her lack of contraception but she seemed to think it "wouldn't happen to her". Lack of knowledge of contraception wasn't the problem; lack of understanding of the consequences was.

Somehow this needs to be addressed.
Posted by Hel, Monday, 13 December 2004 4:04:58 PM
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Well done Lyn, but I would argue that not only do the kids need to be educated but their parents as well. Everybody who reads this should asks themselves how would they react if they found comdoms in their 15 year olds draw/bag/pocket.
Posted by Kenny, Wednesday, 12 January 2005 7:25:12 PM
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Ruby - I think there's only one thing to consider - how to prevent these unwanted pregnancies. Women are aware of the other options (keeping the child or adoption - I don't think there are any others unless you add 'sell into slavery'), that's why they choose abortion. Do you really think the women choosing abortion had not considered the possibility of keeping the baby? I wouldn't blame them for not giving adoption anything more than a cursory glance...

Overwhelmingly it has been shown that abortion is more often the result of failed contraception than anything else, whether that failure is of the contraception itself or human error due to ignorance goes to support the same argument.... we need contraception which is not designed with the idea that if it should fail 'Oh well...you were going to have a baby ONE day!' because I can tell you right now - if they had given me my hard fought for and won tubal ligation when I asked for it at 18 (instead of 24, with my MOTHERS permission can you believe?), there would be one less abortion and one less adoption for the statistics....

No abstinence program works...And I'm glad!! The last thing we need as a species is MORE people psychologically tuned to thinking sex is bad...an idea which originates with the christian church anyway and is NOT natural. All the proof you need that abstinence makes for a phycho population is in the overwhelming number of perverts in the ranks of the catholic churches ministry.

If I could magically change a scientific discovery, I would make it so that IVF was never invented and contraception was 110% fail safe requiring of an expensive and elusive antidote to be taken before one tried to conceive. Wouldn't the world be a wonderful place if every child was wanted...?
Posted by Newsroo, Thursday, 13 January 2005 2:52:54 PM
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Petar U - I wouldn't put too much stock in those numbers, the previous paragraph contradicts that trend, stating that there were half a million terminations to three quarter of a million births.

"there are now more abortions taking place amongst teenagers than actual births. THATS JUST OUTRAGEOUS! "

I would say this is a positive indicator... not that I think it's GREAT they are pregnant in the first place, just it means more girls are taking charge and giving themselves a shot at happiness in the future. Surely you wouldn't say it was better to have all these teen mums? or adoptees adding to the ranks of the unwanted?

I'm almost positive that had these girls had the same options in the past they have now, there would never have been a higher birth rate than abortion rate.... I don't see how it is 'better' to force a future on someone.

Let's not forget - children shouldn't be a punishment.
Posted by Newsroo, Thursday, 13 January 2005 3:08:39 PM
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about that number '100,000' - it may be accurate to claim that number of Medicare Procedure No '?' is being funded annually, BUT that procedure is also required for good health after a spontaneous miscarriage, and that same procedure is also very usual for women experiencing menopausal difficulty. So, not so many of the 100,000 would have been live births.

If The Tony Abbott insists on his number, then his government would have needed 500,000 extra school places for 5 years olds at the start of this year. He needs to plan now for 2010 primary school growth, because if his present campaign succeeds, the frequency of termination may reduce, but the number of conceptions will probably not.
Posted by Brownie, Wednesday, 9 February 2005 2:12:37 PM
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A very reasoned approach. It might be worth the while of the editors to rebadge and re-date this article given the latest kerfuffle about this issue brought about by a few leading Liberals.
Posted by inkeemagee, Friday, 11 February 2005 9:50:06 AM
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