Teen Pregnancies

In Emily's post "Once again, the South is Behind", on her blog Texas Politics, she discusses teen pregnancy rates in Texas and offers solutions in how to reduce the number of teen pregnancies. I agree with her that abstinence education is not the best method. I think teaching students that abstinence is best makes talking about sex a taboo. Then as these students become parents, they have a harder time talking to their children about sex.  I went to high school in Ohio and my school did not teach abstinence, but there were several pregnant girls in my school. I think seeing pregnant teens makes more teen girls think it's okay to get pregnant and with shows like "16 and Pregnant", it makes it popular. I don't believe that just reforming education will help that much in reducing teen pregnancies, I think it's society as a whole. Emily also makes a great point in saying that the key to preventing teen pregnancies is with the parents. I definitely agree with that. As a teen, the only sex talk I have with my mom was her telling me that I would wait until I was married to have sex, and that was after I already had. Luckily, I did not get pregnant as a teen, but I wish my mom made talking about sex with her easier.