At the beginning of this week, I wrote about the importance of asking the right questions. The other critical part of solving complex problems is to use the data and science to guide policy decisions. These are two of the biggest frustrations I experience on almost a daily basis. You can pick up almost any newspaper or visit almost any news website and there will be an example of some legislator somewhere trying to implement some law or policy based, not on facts and data, but on personal prejudices and misinformation.
Two days ago in the Bozeman paper I read an article about one of our newly empowered Republican legislators pushing a bill to allow parents to ‘opt out’ of sex education classes. This bill would require schools to “inform parents or guardians what will be taught in sex education classes. Supporters of the bill have expressed concern over a so-called “progressive” agenda being taught in sex education curriculum.”1
These are the facts. The United States has the highest per capita rate of teenage pregnancies of any industrialized country, by far. “The teenage birth rate of the United States is about four times that of the European Union (EU) average. Within the European Union, the highest teenage birth rates are found for UK and the new European Union members Bulgaria, Romania, and the Baltic States. Extraordinary high levels are also reported for Ukraine, Macedonia, Russia, and Belarus. By contrast, extremely low rates of teenage births are reported for Japan and Korea, for Switzerland, Netherlands, and Sweden. [ Low rates] were reported for Italy, Spain, Denmark, Finland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Greece, Norway, Germany, and Austria.”2 I looked at several studies and they all say essentially the same thing – the United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate of any industrialized nation.
Parents are notoriously poor at talking to their kids about sex and sexual issues. There is a myth out there that providing kids with robust sex education will result in every high school kid wanting to run out and have promiscuous sex all the time. It’s completely and provably false. The countries that have the lowest teenage birth rates are those countries that tend to have robust, accurate, informative sex education programs that are mandatory for students. It has been demonstrated over and over again that students armed with accurate information are more likely to make responsible decisions. This proposed legislation is just another example of misguided legislation that will not solve a problem but will make a bad situation even worse.
While I was researching this post, I came across a study3 showing teenage pregnancy rates broken down by states. As you might expect, after a moment of reflection, the fact is that those states that are generally considered ‘red’ states (Republican) have the highest teenage pregnancy rates whereas those states generally considered to be ‘blue’ (Democratic) states tend to have lower teenage pregnancy rates. There could not be a clearer example of how public policy which is not based upon facts and data, not only doesn’t solve the problem it purports to solve but it makes it worse.
The red states tend to be those states that are anti-abortion, want to put restrictions on sex education classes, and want to limit access to birth control and family planning services to people, especially teens. The blue states tend to be for a woman’s right to make her own choice about abortion, encourage robust sex education programs in the schools and support wide access to birth control and family planning services. The US has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the industrialized world and the red states are the worst offenders within the US. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to look at the data to figure out what works and what doesn’t.
So, I have news for all of the legislators who are using our tax payer dollars to push all of these ridiculous laws. You can pass as many laws as you like to restrict abortions. Women will still find a way to have abortions. The only question is how many women will die in the process. You can pass as many laws as you like to restrict access to robust sex education classes. Teenagers will still have sex and the less information they have, the higher the probability an unwanted pregnancy will result. You can pass all the laws you want to restrict access to birth control and family planning services for teenagers and they will still have sex, although with a much higher probability of having unsafe sex resulting in either an STI or an unwanted pregnancy.
You can either start living in the real world and make laws and policies that reflect reality or you can continue to live in a fantasy world and make laws based upon wishful thinking. Unfortunately, wishful thinking doesn’t generally solve real world problems. The Republican party is hell bent on dragging the US back into the 1950’s while the rest of the world marches forward. I think the new party slogan for the Republicans should be, “Don’t confuse me with the facts!”