Many of us who have been working in the area of teen pregnancy prevention have long depended on the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy's research to improve our educational efforts. That is why it was a little disconcerting to listen to a recent conference call sponsored by The National Campaign about its new report called The Fog Zone: How Misperceptions, Magical Thinking, and Ambivalence Put Young Adults at Risk for Unplanned Pregnancy.(1)

The report found even though most unmarried young adults (18-29) say it is very important for them to avoid pregnancy right now (74% of young men and 80% of young women), only about half of those who are sexually active use contraception every time. One in five take a pass on birth control altogether. One in four use contraception inconsistently. One in three women surveyed said they have already had an unplanned pregnancy.

This is a disappointing result considering all the effort put into contraceptive education over the past three decades. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 3 out of 4 high school students who receive sex education in the U.S. have received formal instruction in the use of birth control.(2) And condoms and birth control services are ubiquitous on most college campuses. But my disappointment was not just about the lack of effectiveness of the contraceptive education, but also with The National Campaign's focus on preventing "unplanned" pregnancies.

Many would agree with The National Campaign's recommendations for more "evidence-based" education about the basics of anatomy, reproduction, fertility, pregnancy, STDs, as well as accurate information about contraceptives and discussion about healthy and respectful relationships. The Institute for Research and Evaluation has pointed out that while The National Campaign endorses many school-based sex education programs as showing "evidence-based" success, NONE of the recommended programs have ANY record of reducing teen pregnancies or STDS. Many of these programs are said to be effective if they increase occasional condom use, hardly something that will truly protect the health of anyone.

TNC also suggests that it "might be best to speak less about preventing pregnancy and more about delaying pregnancy"that is, postponing pregnancy until, for example, adequate education has been secured (in order to increase the chances of solid employment and reduce the risk of poverty), until a stable committed relationship is in place, and until some economic security has been attained."

It is curious that The National Campaign is so unwilling to mention the word "marriage." After all, just 3 years ago, it published one of its best reports, "Making a Love Connection," which recommended teaching the "Success Sequence" of love>>marriage>>childbearing. And, wouldn't adding such clarity do much to shed sunlight in the "fog zone" that many young adults inhabit? After all, it may not be very clear to these young adults exactly what is meant by a "stable, committed relationship." For many that seems to be someone who is willing to move in with them and help pay the rent. But mountains of research show there is a big difference between marriage and just living together.

A new major international study across 15 countries, including more than 34,000 people(see article below),(3) has conclusively shown that getting married is positive for the physical and mental health of both men and women. Married men and women exhibit less depression, as well as less anxiety and substance abuse disorders. Other research studies show that children with married parents are less likely to live in poverty,(4) to drop out of school, have problems with the law, to engage in risky behaviors including alcohol or drug use and teen sex.(5) For most children, whether their parents are married or not is a VERY big issue.

According to the National Opinion Research Center, married men and women are also much more likely to be faithful to each other than couples who just live together.(6) For the vast majority of married men and women, having children, even when the pregnancy was "unplanned," is very good news indeed. And for most young adult women, unmarried childbearing is a challenge and a heavy burden to take on all alone, whether it was "planned" at the time or not.

The dividing line for whether these women have a committed father for their children is not whether the pregnancy was "planned," but whether the pregnancy was in marriage. And while it is true that there is a high divorce rate, focusing on contraception as the means to "planned pregnancies" does little to help young adults to think about how to build healthy, lasting relationships and marriages and often short-circuits deeper discussions about the purpose and meaning of sexual intimacy.

In fact, without a clear marital commitment, it is questionable whether lasting love can grow. The January/February 2010 edition of the Scientific American reports on research on factors which increase feelings of closeness and love, including good communication skills, sharing secrets, seeing each other in a vulnerable state. The most important factor, however, was clear commitment (i.e. marriage).

The unwillingness of The National Campaign to use the word "marriage" and its substitution of the term "planned pregnancy" does nothing to give much-needed clarity to young adults. It would seem that young adults are not the only ones in a fog. It could be said that the recently renamed The National Campaign to Prevent Teen AND UNPLANNED Pregnancy now operates in a contraceptive-based fog itself. Another agenda once again take precedence to telling the truth to youth.

1. Downloaded from http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/fogzone/ on December 19, 2009.
2. "Sex Education: Needs, Programs and Policies," The Guttmacher Institute, 2006. Lindberg LD, Changes in formal sex education: 1995-2002, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2006, 38(4):182-189.
3. Dr. Kate Scott, "Marriage good news for mental health, but separation and divorce have negative impacts," Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago, Wellington, December 15, 2009. www.uow.otago.ac.nz.
4. Adam Thomas and Isabel Sawhill, "For Love and Money? The Impact of Family Structure on Family Income," The Future of Children 15: 2, Fall 2005, Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs at Princeton University and the Brookings Institution.
5. Paul Amato, "The Impact of Family Formation Change on the Cognitive, Social, and Emotional Well-Being of the Next Generation," The Future of Children 15: 2, Fall 2005, Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs at Princeton University and the Brookings Institution.
6. Edward Laumann, John Gagnon, Robert Michael and Stuart Michaels, The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1994.

But parents need to understand that the SIECUS DEFINITION OF ABSTINENCE is not what most parents think about when they hear the word. Reading from Ms. Kempner's Talk about Sex booklet (page 56-57):
 "If you are going to use abstinence as a method of birth control, it specifically means not having vaginal intercourse and avoiding any other behaviors where semen has a chance of entering the vagina. Abstinence can be 100% effective in preventing pregnancy when couples really avoid all of these behaviors all of the time. How effective abstinence is in preventing STDs depends on which sexual behaviors are avoided. To minimize the chance of passing or getting an STD, you should avoid any behavior that involves an exchange of body fluid (semen, vaginal fluid, blood) or contact with bumps or sores on the skin."

You can see that when SIECUS talks about abstinence they are really talking about "sexual behaviors that avoid the transmission of semen into the vagina." This is the "Outercourse" definition of abstinence.

Notice that the Talk about Sex booklet states "How effective abstinence is in preventing STDs depends on which sexual behaviors are avoided. To minimize the chance of passing or getting an STD, you should avoid any behavior that involves an exchange of body fluid (semen, vaginal fluid, blood) or contact with bumps or sores on the skin."

You can see in this quote that the SIECUS definition of abstinence INCLUDES sexual behavior! That is why in a discussion about "abstinence" they feel the need to warn the "abstaining" students "to minimize the chance of passing or getting an STD, you should avoid any behavior that involves an exchange of body fluid (semen, vaginal fluid, blood) or contact with bumps or sores on the skin."

You can also see why SIECUS and other organizations advocating "Comprehensive" sex ed state that abstinence has failure rates!