Pregnant Pause

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T20:54:57Z

The fortunate among us will not only usher in a new year tonight, we'll also be welcoming a four-day weekend. That could mean a little more time for writing resolutions, but for many, it also means more time for sex.

Researchers and our friends at Trojan report that the Christmas-New Year's period marks an annual spike in sexual activity and conceptions (though I'm guessing it's not just Christians having more sex and getting pregnant).

They list the big contributors to this trend as leisure time, alcohol and partying, and New Year's resolutions to have kids. For those in the last category, we hope 2009 brings you a healthy pregnancy and birth. For those who aren't planning to have children right this minute but who do have some extra holiday helpings of sex, we hope you'll contribute to that jump in condom sales—or use another effective method of contraception.

Happy New Year from all of us at The National Campaign!

Duh.

2008-12-29T16:42:23Z

Big study came out about today about abstinence and virginity pledges. The headline is that teens who take virginity pledges (sometimes as part of an abstinence-only education program) are no less likely to have sex -- but they are much less likely to use protection when they do.

This nation has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on abstinence-only education, with barely a condom's width of proof that any of it is helping. So what makes this study different from all the others that have also questioned the efficacy of such pledges? For starters, this time they looked at teens who were quite similar to one another in numerous ways (attitudes about sex, religion, birth control, etc. -- also their parents' attitudes), and found that the big difference between those who promised to stay virgins until marriage and those who did not wasn't in the having sex department, it was in the having safe sex department.

]]> Teaching our young people about responsible sex is critical. It's truly "news they can use." It's part of being a happy, healthy adult. Whether they start having sex at age 15 or 19 or 23 or even if they wait until marriage (which fewer and fewer are doing, especially as the average age of marriage creeps up high and higher), they are going to have decades of a sex life and they deserve to prepared. They deserve to be taught how pregnancy happens, how diseases are transmitted, and most importantly, how to avoid both. They should learn not just the biology behind it all, but about the complex emotional components, negotiations, variables, and risks in an intimate relationship. They need to be able to protect themselves physically and mentally. They should be taught that no means no, that it's okay to say no (even if you've said yes before), and that being smart about a topic doesn't make you immoral. It makes you, well, smart.

We teach teenagers how to drive, even if they don't have cars. We teach them about the hazards of drinking and driving, even if they don't like beer yet. We teach them how to change flat tires (or at least we should) in case of an emergency, and we arm them with vehicle instruction manuals, AAA memberships, insurance cards, maps, GPS systems, emergency numbers and whatever else they need to become safe, competent, drivers (and passengers!) for the rest of their lives. We would never let them get into the driver's seat unprepared. Time to do the same for what goes on in the back seat too.

Kudos for Katie

2008-12-24T15:50:54Z

Gotta give props to Katie Morgan, the adult-film star and fledgling big screen actor (see her in "Zack and Miri Make a Porno"). She is also the host of HBO's new half-hour special, "Katie Morgan: A Porn Star Revealed," where Katie answers questions delivered via phone, letter, and email. The reviews have been good.

One questioner asks Katie, "A man I've been dating and I aren't sexually exclusive yet, so I want him to use a condom. He says they're not sexy. What should I do?"

Katie responds, "I would find someone else to be not exclusive with. Because if you're not exclusive, and you're not testing, you should definitely be using condoms."

Some guy off-camera in the studio fires back, "But guys often say they don't like them."

Katie replies in her "if you don't take my advice, you're not getting any" kind of way, "I don't like bananas, but that doesn't mean I don't eat potassium. You know, you have to protect yourself. If it's not quite as fun as it might be otherwise, just think of all the child support you're not paying or all the STDs your not catching. Think of what you are saving in antibiotics. Just think."

Yes Katie, that's good advice for the holiday season when we've got more time to spend having fun.

Holiday Myth-Busting

2008-12-22T18:29:14Z

Continuing a tradition from last year, the British Journal of Medicine recently released a list of 6 medical myths that most people (even doctors) believe. In honor of their new tradition I'd like to add a few myths about teen and unplanned pregnancy to the list. What myths have you heard from your friends and family? Tell us about them in the comments field below.

6 Myths about Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy for the Holiday Season:

It won't happen to me.
Nearly half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unplanned, which suggests that having an unplanned pregnancy is a lot more common than many people realize. More than 80% of teen pregnancies are unplanned and a full 70% of pregnancies to single women in their twenties are unplanned as well.
Parents don't matter.
Teens consistently say that teens are the most influential when it comes to their decisions about sex. Other research also indicates that parents play a huge role in the decisions that teens make, and a close relationship between teens and their parents decreases their risk for teen pregnancy. Worried about talking to your kids about sex, love, and relationships? The National Campaign has some tips to get you started.
A baby will make him stay.
In fact among teen mothers, eight out of ten fathers don't marry the mother of their child. These absent fathers pay less than $800 annually for child support, often because they are poor themselves. Children who live apart from their fathers are also five times more likely to be poor than children with both parents at home.

Women who have an unplanned pregnancy and birth are also much less likely to either move in with their partner or get married compared to women who plan their pregnancy and birth. In fact, less than half of women who have an unplanned birth are married by the time their child is 2 years old (an additional 17% are cohabiting).
Being in a serious relationship is a good reason to stop using birth control.
People often get lax about contraception as a relationship gets more serious and feelings become more intimate. But as the relationship heats up, it's time to be more careful, not less. Remember, either abstaining from sex or using contraception each and every time you have sex is the best way to avoid an unplanned pregnancy.
Everybody's doing it.
In fact, less than half (48%) of all high school student have ever had sex. Don't believe everything you hear. People lie, and exaggerate, and can talk a good game when it comes to sex. In the end, it doesn't matter who's telling the truth or not. The only truth that matters is what's best for you. Yeah, that sounds corny -- but it's true.
Because you've said "yes" once means you have to say "yes" every time.
Just because you decided to have sex one time, or with one person, doesn't mean you have to have sex again, or with everyone. Most teen girls (53%) and one-third of teen boys (33%) say they had mixed feelings about having sex the first time it happened.

The Year in YouTube

2008-12-19T19:25:55Z

Ahhh, 2008... What a year! In this season of "best of" lists and year-end retrospectives, I thought it would be a good time to pause, take a deep breath, and take a look back at some of our favorite videos from the last 365 days.

Why, it seems like just yesterday that we learned Jamie Lynn Spears was pregnant, but her baby, Maddie Briann, was born in June. When it came to names, my money was on "Misti Cheyanne." Close, but no cigar.

In May, the entire field of sex education took a great hit when 78-year-old sex educator and sex toy enthusiast Sue Johanson retired from her Oxygen television show, Talk Sex with Sue Johanson. She continues to tour universities, which is lucky for our young adult crowd as evidenced by the student-shot video below:

Seriously, when was the last time you saw a 78-year-old woman demonstrate how to apply a comdom with her mouth? You will be missed on Sunday nights, Sue.

In November, Barack Obama -- the son of a teen mother -- was elected the nation's 44th president. Here's what President-elect Obama had to say about his historical achievement:

Check out more videos after the jump.

]]> Speaking of politics, Bristol Palin's due date is this weekend! The news of her pregnancy spread like wildfire during election season and spawned a number of amusing -- and mostly NSFW -- videos on YouTube, including the following Juno parody:

On a more serious note, The National Campaign's "Too Young" educational film won a Freddie Award ("the Oscars for healthcare media") in their Adolescent Health category this year. If you haven't seen the it yet, what are you waiting for? The entire film is just shy of five minutes long and it's embedded below, so now you really have no excuse.

Want to see more National Campaign videos? Check out our YouTube page at http://www.youtube.com/nationalcampaign.

Had enough yet? No? Well, it is the week before Christmas and we all know that everybody slacks off at the holidays, so here are a couple more of our favorite discoveries from the past year:

Speed Dressing (J.C. Penney Ad Spoof)

Target Women: Birth Control

Sex Ed Rocks

World of Warcraft Birth Control

IUDs - Stay Well Informed

Can You Say Relationships?

2008-12-18T15:00:40Z

KERA, the NPR TV and Radio station for north Texas, has made a year-long commitment to examing the "complex personal and cultural factors that contribute to the way adolescent girls form and maintain relationships." The first part of the project is a series of engaging, sobering, and thought-provoking radio biographys of sorts---four teens describe the challenges of their relationships, pregnancies, and raising children.

If nothing else, the KERA series by Sujata Dand makes clear that efforts to prevent too-early pregnancy and childbearing often miss one of the most important topics of all---healthy relationships. Young people are often told about how to redcue the risk of pregnancy and STIs but rarely are they given guidance on how to successfully navigate the minefield of relationships.

The series is very well done and worth a few minutes of your time. In fact, the series could serve as a terrific tool for those who work directly with teens. Have them listen and discuss. The Campaign also has some helpful materials for parents on the topic of relationships. Check 'em out.

Operation Health Reform

2008-12-18T14:28:53Z

People all over the country are getting together to discuss ways to improve our health care system, and we want to make sure that the issues we care about most are a part of this dialogue.

This is a priority for us. And not just because it's our job. It's because deciding whether and when to become pregnant and have children is one of the most important decisions many of us will make in our lives. We think women, men, and families will do better if they have the opportunity to prevent pregnancy and plan families affordably, in consultation with the best medical professionals, and without barriers.

We've asked some of our friends to share some of the challenges they've faced seeking care, and we hope you'll share your stories by leaving comments on this blog post.

"I switched jobs and therefore my insurance plan changed. I went from paying $7 for a month's supply of birth control to more than 4 times as much for the exact same prescription."

"I was having trouble getting pregnant, and did some research on what might be causing my particular issues. I read about a hormone that might help, but my doctor at the time wasn't very familiar with it. He agreed to administer it, but wanted to test for it in my blood after a few weeks. This was impossible, because that particular hormone doesn't show up in your blood. I switched to an OBGYN who knew about the hormone and understood my issues, and shortly after receiving the treatment I was pregnant with my first daughter."

"I decided I wanted an IUD. I had been seeing an OBGYN at a hospital that doesn't do IUD's. I called four different doctors in the area, and no doctors do them. Finally I found a doctor a long way from my house who said she did them, so I made an appointment. I finally saw the woman and she gave me an exam then told me that she would not recommend an IUD -- because I hadn't had a baby, and because she had so little faith in her own ability to insert one properly. I was super excited that I'd taken off an afternoon to drive out to the middle of nowhere for that."

"When I changed pills based on advice from my doctor to try anther type, the new ones ended up costing me over $50/month (with insurance paying about $5). On other pills, I'd paid $10 -- $15 month, with insurance paying the balance."

"I had been having reproductive health issues for years, and when doctors ruled out endometriosis, fibroids, and cancer, we decided that a hysterectomy would be the best course of action. Since I am done having children, I agreed. After a few more weeks of tests, exams, and follow-up visits, I received a bill from my insurance company for almost $1,000 -- all this on top of my $20 co-pay I was dishing out for every office visit. When I called my doctor to straighten this out, it was explained to me that on top of a $750 deductible for my plan, I have to pay 20% of all the costs beyond that. The good news is that I had met my high deductible for the year. The bad news: my surgery is scheduled for next year."

Early Education Gains Momentum

2008-12-17T16:22:07Z

Today's New York Times article, "Obama Pledge Stirs Hope in Early Education," refers to research by Nobel prize-winning economist, James J. Heckman, and others that shows that "each dollar devoted to the nurturing of young children can eliminate the need for far greater government spending on remedial education, teenage pregnancy and prisons."

Back in June 2004, The National Campaign featured early childhood education in its Science Says publication concluding, "research suggests that children's experiences in programs many years earlier may also contribute to a reduced likelihood that they will become parents too soon. Indeed, studies indicate that early childhood and elementary school programs can contribute to reduced risk of adolescent pregnancy."

The Abecedarian Project was one of the programs highlighted in the publication for its impressive results. The children in the treatment group had higher IQs when they were 3 (this persisted through age 21 which was the last assessment), they also scored higher on math and reading tests. By the age of 21, 35% of the treatment group had graduated from college compared to 14% of the no treatment group.

And for the pièce de résistance: the kids were significantly less likely to have become a teen parent (26% in the treatment group versus 45% in the no treatment group became teen parents).

The comments posted about the article on the New York Times Web site suggest support for this approach. Do you support more spending on early childhood education?

Health Care-Of the People, By the People

2008-12-11T16:33:23Z

As our new leaders and the American public begin to think about how to address the inefficiencies in this nation's health care system, we have an opportunity to ensure that the issues we care about are front and center in this national discussion.

The new Administration wants to know what's important to you, and they're encouraging people throughout the country to host or attend community discussions on health reform over the next few weeks.

We want our elected leaders to know: Any changes to improve the health care system must include ways to help teens and young adults avoid too-early or unplanned pregnancy.

But how do we do it? We have some ideas, but we want to hear from you. We hope you'll take a few seconds to let us know your thoughts by leaving comments on this blog post, and we'll make sure that the new Administration gets the message loud and clear.

SEXTING AND NUDE POSTINGS: EVERYONE'S DOING IT. WELL, LOTS OF THEM.

2008-12-09T23:56:02Z

Today The Campaign, along with our friends at Cosmogirl.com, released a survey about the scary intersection of sex and technology. As it turns out, nearly 40% of teens are sending sexually suggestive text message, IMs, or emails. And nearly half have received them. Think that's bad? They're also sending sexually explicit photos and video—about 1 in 5 teens say they've posted or sent nude or semi-nude images of themselves. Most send this stuff to their boyfriends and girlfriends but 15% of those who've done it say they've sent such content to people they know only online. Yikes!

There's a lot to talk about here. Teens know it's dangerous and they do it anyway. This sort of activity increases with age (so much for "youthful indiscretions" that are over by adulthood). Teen girls say they do it because they think its "fun" but many guys see it as being "hot" and nearly a third of teen boys say girls who send such content are expected to hook up. Guys show what they're receiving to their buddies. And nearly a quarter of teens say this sort technology makes them more forward and aggressive in real life.

Real life. That's the scariest part of all. If someone has already seen photos of your naked body either online or on their cell phone screen, then the expectation for sexual contact may be more intense when you spend time with them in person. Or it might be harder to say "no" to something in real life if you've pushed the envelope electronically. Not to mention the real life impact these photos may have when potential employers or college admissions officers or new friends or first dates or sworn enemies or pretty much anyone else searches for information about you online.

And for the most part parents have no idea what's going on. When parents were growing up their moms answered the phone and knew their friends' voices. Phone conversations took place in the kitchen in front of everyone. Even if they took racy pictures of themselves as teens the only way to share them was passing around snapshots and then hiding them away. "Friends" were people you knew and spent time with—not a classification on Facebook that applies equally to people you've never met as well as lifelong pals. Parents may (or may not) be old-fashioned or out of touch when it comes to teens' attitudes about sex, drugs, drinking, etc., but at least they've lived through it. Not so with cell phone culture and social networking. Which can make it harder to talk about and easier to get away with.

For survey results, teen reaction, news coverage, tips for parents, things to think about before you press 'send' and more check out Sex and Tech: What's Really Going On on our site and Cosmogirl.com's The Daily Kiss blog.

Sex Ed Rocks

2008-12-08T13:31:26Z

More found material! From time to time we like to post these Mozart sonatas for the 21st century. Enjoy and share the joy with a friend.

On Marriage...

2008-12-04T19:00:02Z

The word "marriage" is on everyone's lips these days. Marriage can be classified as religious, practical, ideological, cultural, and civic, which can make it tricky to define. Most people will agree that one very practical element of it is the stability it offers for couples who want to start a family.

The National Campaign and others refer to getting an education, getting married, then starting a family—in that order—as the "success sequence." And for good reason—research has shown that following this sequence typically produces better outcomes for children and families. But when, if ever, is the "getting married" part optional?

Ta-Nehisi Coates recently explored the topic of marriage in the context of his own life in order to explain his opposition to the now infamous Proposition 8 and other measures to limit the rights of same-sex couples. Read the complete post here.

Not to spoil it for you, but the gist of Coates' argument is that everyone should have the right to marry if they choose, but that marriage is not necessarily right for everyone. Note that Coates' reasons for not getting married do not include commitment-phobia, insecurity about the permanence of his and his partner's relationship, or a cavalier attitude toward parenting. In fact, Coates recently wrote a book about the important role a father can play in his children's development.

So, just how optional is marriage in a couple's decision to start a family?

WoW Vs. IUD

2008-12-01T21:41:44Z

Do the words Horde, Alliance, and Leeroy Jenkins mean anything to you? Even if you've never played—or heard of—the massively multiplayer online role-playing game, World of Warcraft (WoW), I'm sure you'll still get the gist of this birth control "ad":

As far as I know, WoW hasn't yet been a part of any clinical trials to prove its effectiveness, so for now I suggest we stick with safer methods like, say, the IUD, which is personified for your education and enjoyment here:

Milwaukee's Best

2008-11-20T21:40:41Z

Now I hate to play favorites, but this is news that I absolutely have to share.

You might remember me raving about cheeseheads a couple of months ago. Just to recap, people all over Milwaukee have made teen pregnancy prevention a priority, from the local newspaper to business leaders and dozens of non-profits.

The Teen Pregnancy Oversight Committee, with leadership from the United Way of Greater Milwaukee who is spearheading this effort, the Milwaukee City Health Department, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Center for Urban Population Health, set a goal to reduce teen births in the city among 15- to 17-year-olds by 46 percent by 2015.

This week, Mayor Tom Barrett and Health Commissioner Bevan Baker reported the city's stunning first step toward this goal: the teen birth rate in Milwaukee declined 10% between 2006 and 2007. That's from about 55 births per 1,000 teens to 50 per 1,000, the lowest rate since 1979.

My new favorite city has a long way to go to reach its 2015 goal, but for now this honorary cheesehead is basking in Milwaukee's success.

Read more about the decline and more about the United Way initiative. Any thoughts about how Wisconsinites achieved this success? Is your city seeing similar results? Dying to tell us about your state or community's efforts? Please share and discuss.

Amy Poehler Proves Smart Girls Have More Fun

2008-11-20T17:25:35Z

Just when you thought the internet couldn't get any better, Amy Poehler and some of her talented friends have rolled out "Smart Girls at the Party" over at ON Networks. In this new online series, the former 'SNL' cast member/comedy goddess sits down with creative young girls and interviews them about their lives and their passions.

As the father of a little girl, I am just excited to see that there are people like Poehler out there who are celebrating girls as "extraordinary individuals who are changing the world by being themselves."

I love, love, love that this series embraces girls' -- not to mention Poehler and her costars' -- brains, wit, weirdness, and independence. Take that Hannah Montana and Jamie Lynn!

I guess Tina Fey was wrong: Smart is actually the new black.

IRONY ALERT: Sixteen years ago, Teen Talk Barbie enraged consumers with her declaration that "Math class is tough!" and asked the eternal question of "Will we ever have enough clothes?" Today, the series is sponsored by Mattel's Barbie. My, how things have changed.