We could learn a lot

[aamusedinatx]

It is time we adults grew up

We now know that comprehensive sex education cuts teenage pregnancy rates. It should be compulsory

Angela Phillips
Friday July 1, 2005
The Guardian

Six years ago, when the government revealed a programme aimed at halving the teenage pregnancy rate, even the British Pregnancy Advisory Service was sceptical, describing the plans as "about as useful as the Millennium Dome". But an independent study headed by Professor Kaye Wellings, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, has found that the strategy, which combines a national information campaign with coordinated local action to improve services and education, is starting to work.

Progress is slower than the government hoped, but the evidence is clear. In most of the high birth-rate areas, where the teenage pregnancy strategy has focused energy and money, rates of unprotected sex are stable and the teenage birth rate is going down. In more affluent areas, where the strategy has not been widely implemented, the number of young people not using contraception on a regular basis (and the rate of sexually transmitted infection) is actually rising.