Teen Pregnancy in Danville
Danville Register & Bee Editorial April 9, 2008 Teenagers in Danville are regularly having sex without condoms. We know that because Danville has high rates of both teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. The regular, consistent and proper use of condoms is one way to prevent both the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and an unplanned pregnancy. Abstinence is another way. So is what is now quaintly referred to as “traditional marriage.” So is a truly monogamous, long-term relationship. But the numbers tell us what’s really happening out there, and it’s not traditional, it’s not safe, and it’s not good for the future of this community. We can bury our heads in the sand while another generation of teens grapples with the effects of STDs and pregnancies. We can call for a return to more traditional values, but who will heed that call? Just the young people who have already done so. But there aren’t enough of them — and they’re not the problem. “Truly, the lack of knowledge and lack of understanding,” contributes greatly to unintended consequences of teenage sex, said Robin Jones, executive director of Little Life Pregnancy Medical Center. “They’re doing adult things with a childlike understanding.” “Doing adult things with a childlike understanding” doesn’t protect teenagers. Sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancies change young lives. We owe it to teenagers to be honest about what’s going to happen to them. We can do that because we know the long-term effects of this kind of behavior. “Children born to teen mothers tend to have a lower socio-economic status associated with a variety of things,” Ann Rawlins, Virginia Department of Health adolescent health coordinator, said. Nationally, about 70 percent of teen moms drop out of high school, which makes it tougher for them to find a job, which makes it tougher for them to earn a decent living and have the health care coverage employers make available to their workers. “It’s snowballing. It’s interrelated,” Rawlins said. We often write about the need to develop the Dan River Region’s work force so local people can be ready for the jobs we know are coming here. But how many people aren’t ready for work because they dropped out of school to care for a child? Instead of seeing a teen pregnancy or an STD as a singular event, it looks a lot different — and a lot worse — when we look at the cumulative effects of generations of bad mistakes by people who aren’t old enough to be adults and aren’t young enough to be children. It’s obvious that any group of people that has preventable sexually transmitted diseases and preventable pregnancies is sexually active and probably won’t suddenly stop. Teenagers need to be told the truth, not only about the mechanics of birth control and disease prevention, but what will happen to them and their children. If this community continues to ignore the problems caused by teen sexuality, it will continue to suffer the effects of those activities. While there is only so much the community can do — because the ultimate responsibility falls on the kids — it’s time to look at all the options.
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