Kudos to Amy Sullivan on her insightful article in Time magazine voicing concern over recent increases in childbearing among unmarried adults.

Her reference to the Murphy Brown/Dan Quayle controversy helps us remember that while nonmarital childbearing seems to have only recently recaptured the public interest, this issue has been with us for many years—in fact nonmarital childbearing has been increasing almost nonstop for decades now.

The issue of nonmarital childbearing was first raised at the national level back in 1965 with what has come to be known as The Moynihan Report. Back then, nonmarital childbearing occurred predominantly among the African-American Community, with roughly one third of African-American children born to unmarried mothers (compared to less than one in ten children born to unmarried mothers overall). Hence, the Moynihan report focused on the fraying fabric of the African-American family unit and it became mired in controversy for its racist and classist overtones.

Who says there's no good news in the economic downturn? A Washington Post article says previously free-spending young men are having to cut back on their efforts to buy women's attention with large infusions of cash. No more rounds of $15 martinis for said woman and her friends. No more Moet champagne, $250 dinners.

In other words, it's not as easy on the wallet to get a desirable woman smashed before taking her to bed. Too bad.

One guy said he is more likely to take his dates hiking now than to fancy restaurants. Gosh, they might even find they can have fun together sober.

Interestingly, another Post story is about the health risks for women who drink even a glass of alcohol a day. I wasn't particularly happy to hear that--but maybe not a bad thing for women to know when, instead of a round of Manhattans, their date orders a round of Budweisers.

Why are so many young women still getting pregnant when they didn't intend to? Is it that they don't know enough about how pregnancy happens? Or how to use birth control? Or, are they using birth control sometimes, and thinking that's as good as using it every time? Or that they want to know more but are too embarassed to ask? Or that it just won't happen to them? Turns out, the answer is all of the above, and more.

Check out this great article in the current issue of Self Magazine: "Single, Pregnant and Panicked."

It includes findings from some Campaign polling and focus groups that shed light on what single 20-somethings really think—and what they still don't know—about pregnancy and birth control. The findings are pretty shocking.

Check out the full survey.

Here's some of what we learned:

• 54% of sexually active (but not monogamous) single 20-somethings don't use birth control every time.


• While nearly half of our survey respondents said they don't look for information about preventing pregnancy because they already know enough about it, we found that 50% of those women surveyed don't know at what point in their cycle they are most likely to get pregnant, and 23% of women we surveyed think that taking birth control pills increases the risk of getting all types of cancers (NOT true!).


• 21% said finding the right source of information on pregnancy prevention is too hard.


• 21% of young adult women said they don't seek out information about birth control and pregnancy prevention because it's too embarrassing to talk about.


• 67% of our respondents (male and female) say they know nothing about IUDs, which the medical community considers the most effective form of long-acting contraception.


• 16% of young adult men say they only use contraception if their partners insist on it.

Many who are taking chances with their birth control say that if pregnancy hasn't happened yet, it probably won't...that's the most magical thinking of all.

Go to self.com to read the article and take the pregnancy quiz that nearly 1,000 women have already failed.  And don't forget to tell us what you think.

Although the National Campaign is not focused intensely on sex education, I am often asked what I think should be taught and when and by whom and under what circumstances, and usually I find ways to refer people to our website, where our "Ten Tips for Parents" appear, along with much else about effective curricula and more. But I am beginning to think that we need a new list—or perhaps an additional list—of topics to discuss with young people as well as among ourselves.

Here is the way I think about it. This nation has been engulfed for years in a series of arguments that touch on sex, love, and relationships—a partial list includes abortion, abstinence-only curricula versus comprehensive sex education, parental consent, and birth control clinics in schools. There are more, too, but those are the biggies.

But I think that while we have all been arguing about such matters, a number of simple, basic ideas has fallen by the wayside. When I speak about them—see list below—people often write them down or ask me to "go slower" so that they don't miss any. Sometimes they are treated like news, even though I would imagine my grandmother might have laid them out quite easily. So, here is my list of topics we need to discuss with teens, in particular, although many apply to young adults as well.

Aunt Sarah's List

1. Sex has risks, meaning and consequences.  Take it seriously....
2. A couple shouldn't have sex if they can't talk about birth control and what they will do if pregnancy occurs. 
3. Girls: Sex won't make him yours and a baby won't make him stay.
4. Boys: Making babies doesn't make you a man.  Being a devoted partner and father can....
5. Babies need adult parents.
6. Babies don't cement relationships; they stress them.
7. Babies don't give unconditional love; they seek and demand it from the adults around them.
8. Children do best when they are raised by parents who are committed to each other and to years of devoted parenting.
9. Getting pregnant, having babies, and raising children is perhaps the most important thing we do (and it also costs a lot).  Therefore, it needs to be thought about carefully, not stumbled into.  We plan many relatively unimportant things all the time: vacations, outfits, dinner, presents, what movie to see....  Doesn't pregnancy deserve at least the same amount of planning?

Do you have a tenth topic for Sarah's list?  Tell us your thoughts.

According to a report released last Tuesday by the Guttmacher Institute, the number of abortions in the U.S. has continued to decline steadily since 1990. This decline has been the most dramatic among teen girls (younger than age 20). In fact, between 1989 and 2004, the abortion rate among teen girls decreased 53% (compared to 26% overall).

The proportion of abortions obtained by teen girls also dropped dramatically during the last three decades while the proportion of abortions to women age 20-24 has remained at roughly one-third since 1974. Furthermore, the majority of all abortions (57%) occur to women in their twenties. At the same time, 60% of all abortions occur to women who have already had at least one child.

Clearly unplanned pregnancy is not just a teen problem.