I was excited when Ron Haskins of the Brookings Institution approached me to develop a "family planning" module for low-income couples participating in healthy relationship and marriage education programs. After all, my first job out of social work school was with Planned Parenthood, I have a specialty in sexuality education, and I've spent the last 20 years or so developing programs to support low-income parents and families. It was a perfect assignment for me, bringing together several of my professional worlds.

Okay, I was excited, but I also knew it wasn't going to be easy. The rates of unplanned pregnancy are so very high among unmarried, low-income, African American couples -- the focus of this module -- and the reasons for these high rates are complicated. It helped when our advisory committee decided that the module alone could not be expected to change behaviors and that participating couples would need case management support to reach their goals related to pregnancy planning.

Why might it be that in the 21st century, in the year 2010, teen pregnancy is still too often seen as a problem for girls? Despite real and important strides in recognizing the obvious two-to-tango biological imperative--for example, we now have more programs for boys and young men, more messages designed to reach them, and better data to understand them--the public still tends to equate teen pregnancy with teen mothers. Period. Not a father in sight.

Bravo to Kari Huus at MSNBC.com for telling the story of Nate Howell, a 19-year-old father-to-be. Nate is working heroically to help support the child his girlfriend is about to have; as he says, "it's my responsibility now and I'm going to own up to it." Unfortunately, Nate is the exception, not the rule.

Watch the compelling video of Nate (titled "Expecting a baby, at 19") as he discusses the challenges he already faces with impending fatherhood. Share the video with some other young person in your life. How can we all help Nate succeed?

An interesting new study from researchers at Ohio State University and UC Santa Barbara looks at the ways in which a TV drama and a news series -- both of which deal with teen pregnancy -- affect viewers' intentions to prevent pregnancy. The study's goal was to figure out not whether media has an influence, but rather how it influences viewers. Can it help them overcome resistance to helpful information and messages? Can it help break through their wall of denial, chipping away at the idea that "it won't happen to me"?

Just over 350 undergraduate men and women (ages 18-25) either watched episodes of The OC, Fox's beloved but long-ago canceled teen soap, or watched a portion of Channel One's "Mothers Too Soon" / "Fathers Too Soon," an award-winning news series for teens about the realities of teen motherhood. (Which, for the record, our Campaign worked on in partnership with Channel One, but did not develop, as the paper and press release assert. Also for the record: we provided the same set of messages and expertise to The OC for the teen pregnancy storyline used in this study).

On January 12th Kate Harding of Broadsheet wrote a pleasantly scathing rebuke to a piece by Ravi Somaiya of Gawker about why a male birth control pill is a terrible idea. Somaiya's tongue-in-cheek piece basically argues that men are too irresponsible, dishonest, and/or macho to use an oral contraceptive. In response, Harding risks her "reputation as a man-hating straw feminist" to assert that she actually gives men more credit than that.

Unfortunately, as Harding points out and as anyone involved in the family planning field knows, many of Somaiya's assertions are actually very much based in reality. It can be easy to get caught up in the moment and throw caution to the wind. People do lie about using birth control. What make's Somaiya's article so ridiculous is its implication that men should be held to a lower standard of personal responsibility than women.

This just in from a good friend of The National Campaign--Susie Wilson. I have been mulling over the Orszag issue but never quite found the right words. Susie has. Please read this.

Related shameless plug: We recently released a remarkable report (if I do say so myself) on the "fog" that surrounds so many single young adults 18 to 29 years old regarding basic sexual knowledge, attitudes and use of contraception. Read that too.