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Programs That Fight Teenage Pregnancy Are at Risk of Being Cut
Source: New York Times
Programs That Fight Teenage Pregnancy Are at Risk of Being Cut
By PAM BELLUCK AUG. 10, 2017
ANDERSON, S.C. — At age 14, Latavia Burton knows something about teenage pregnancy. Her mother gave birth to her at 18 and couldn’t attend college because of it. And Latavia’s former best friend became pregnant at 16.
So a pregnancy prevention program in eighth grade and another in her neighborhood this summer hit home. Latavia hasn’t had sex yet, and said if she were asked to she’d say, “Let’s just wait a little longer.” But to be safe, she plans to get an intrauterine device at a clinic for teenagers the program introduced her to. And since she learned that it would not protect her from sexually transmitted diseases, but that condoms would, she said she would “just go to the teen clinic and get some for free” if a boyfriend claimed he couldn’t afford them.
The pregnancy prevention projects Latavia attended are among hundreds across the country, reaching more than a million youths, that are funded by a program the Trump administration has scheduled for elimination in its proposed budget. If Congress concurs, it will end the Obama-era effort to shift away from decades of reliance on abstinence-only programs, which showed little to no evidence of effectiveness. Most projects begun under the Obama administration’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program teach about contraception and sexually transmitted diseases in addition to abstinence.
Even before the budget is voted on, the Health and Human Services Department is curtailing the projects, which it funds through grants of $89 million a year to 81 organizations. As reported last month, officials told all the groups their pregnancy prevention grants would end in June 2018, two years early. But only recently did the department offer a reason for the elimination, attributing it in a statement to “very weak evidence of positive impact of these programs.”
A department spokesman, Mark Vafiades, said officials wanted to ensure “the program provides youth with the information and skills they need to avoid the many risks associated with teen sex.” He did not answer whether the department would revert to abstinence-only programs.
-snip-
By PAM BELLUCK AUG. 10, 2017
ANDERSON, S.C. — At age 14, Latavia Burton knows something about teenage pregnancy. Her mother gave birth to her at 18 and couldn’t attend college because of it. And Latavia’s former best friend became pregnant at 16.
So a pregnancy prevention program in eighth grade and another in her neighborhood this summer hit home. Latavia hasn’t had sex yet, and said if she were asked to she’d say, “Let’s just wait a little longer.” But to be safe, she plans to get an intrauterine device at a clinic for teenagers the program introduced her to. And since she learned that it would not protect her from sexually transmitted diseases, but that condoms would, she said she would “just go to the teen clinic and get some for free” if a boyfriend claimed he couldn’t afford them.
The pregnancy prevention projects Latavia attended are among hundreds across the country, reaching more than a million youths, that are funded by a program the Trump administration has scheduled for elimination in its proposed budget. If Congress concurs, it will end the Obama-era effort to shift away from decades of reliance on abstinence-only programs, which showed little to no evidence of effectiveness. Most projects begun under the Obama administration’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program teach about contraception and sexually transmitted diseases in addition to abstinence.
Even before the budget is voted on, the Health and Human Services Department is curtailing the projects, which it funds through grants of $89 million a year to 81 organizations. As reported last month, officials told all the groups their pregnancy prevention grants would end in June 2018, two years early. But only recently did the department offer a reason for the elimination, attributing it in a statement to “very weak evidence of positive impact of these programs.”
A department spokesman, Mark Vafiades, said officials wanted to ensure “the program provides youth with the information and skills they need to avoid the many risks associated with teen sex.” He did not answer whether the department would revert to abstinence-only programs.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/10/health/teen-pregnancy-prevention-trump-budget-cuts.html
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