STOPP International: Sorry, Planned Parenthood...Abstinence, NOT Contraception Lowered Teen Pregnancy, Birth Rates 5/5/2003
From: Erik Whittington, 540-226-9004, for STOPP, a project of the American Life League; E-mail: ewhittington@all.org; Web site: http://www.stoppinternational.org WASHINGTON, May 5 -- "New research has shattered Planned Parenthood's claim that 80 percent of the decline in teen pregnancy rates is due to contraception," said Ed Szymkowiak, national director of STOPP International, a project of American Life League. The research was published in the April 2003 Journal Adolescent and Family Health. "Despite Planned Parenthood's attempts to bury such information, this study shows conclusively that abstinence, not contraception, is primarily responsible for the lowering of the abortion rate amongst teens." The study, "An analysis of the causes of the decline in non-marital birth and pregnancy rates for teens from 1991 to 1994," examined birthrate statistics to determine which factors played a greater role in the decline. It concluded that abstinence is the primary reason for the decline in births and pregnancies among teens. Among unmarried girls, abstinence accounted for the entire decline in births and 67 percent of the drop in pregnancies. "It's no surprise that Planned Parenthood would try to present a different picture of these figures because doing so brings in more money for their operation," said Szymkowiak. "Planned Parenthood teaches many federally funded sex education programs, where they instill a false sense of safety and protection into these teens. They give away federally-subsidized contraceptives and when that inevitably fails, they 'counsel' these misled teens that they should get an abortion through one of Planned Parenthood's clinics." From 1977 through 2001, Planned Parenthood brought in $894 million from abortions performed at their clinics. "Our elected representatives have been throwing our tax dollars down the drain on contraceptive-based sex-ed programs for years," said Szymkowiak. "But this belies a much more important point, that the federal government has no business trying to replace the role of parents by funding sex-ed programs in the first place. No matter if it is abstinence-based or contraception-based, our tax dollars should not go to fund any sex-ed programs. Educating children about such matters is the responsibility of parents, not "Big Daddy Government." Download a copy of the study at: http://www.physconsortium.com/pdfs/afh_journal_paper. pdf. ------ STOPP International is an American Life League project dedicated to fighting Planned Parenthood's anti-life agenda. ALL, with more than 375,000 supporting families, is the nation's largest pro-life educational organization. | |