About one-third of teens become pregnant at least once by age 20 and fully half of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned.
Not too good.
By posting some intemperate thoughts about sex, love, relationships, pregnancy, childbearing, the media, public policy, our dogs, and other topics, we hope to spark, engender, provoke, stimulate--take your pick--a two-way discussion about the high level of fertility chaos in the United States. We hope to discover innovative ideas on how best to bring down the high rates of teen and unplanned pregnancy in this country. We hope to further develop a national movement on these issues. Who knows, from time to time, we might even offer up a few cogent thoughts that will be helpful.
This blog is written by those of us who toil happily at the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. (We know, it's a long name for an organization, but at least no one is confused about what we do for a living.) For those few who might want to know the full story about our happy band, it all began at a 5,000 watt radio station in Fresno, California...
Actually, the National Campaign began in 1996 as the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. As you might guess from our name, we woke up every day for ten years worried about only one thing--preventing teen pregnancy. Over the past 18 months or so we have begun to worry about, and work on, reducing unplanned pregnancy among single, young adults. Why the expanded mission and organizational name? Again, as noted above, half (!) of all pregnancies are unplanned and the rate is considerably higher among single young adults in the 20s.
Not too good.
Onward!
