[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 8066-8067]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                    PARENTS' ROLE IN TEEN PREGNANCY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Duncan). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 3, 2001, the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. 
Clayton) is recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, I am also delighted to join the 
gentlewoman from Connecticut (Mrs. Johnson) as we serve on the House 
Caucus for the Prevention of Teenage Pregnancy. I am delighted for many 
year reasons; one, because this is an opportunity, and the month of May 
is an opportunity to raise the awareness.
  Over the last several years, I have spoken out often and devoted a 
lot of time and energy to this effort. But no more time is more 
rewarding than talking to young people themselves and talking to 
community leaders about this issue.
  This week alone, I spoke to three different schools. It included a 
high school and two junior high schools. What I am finding out is that 
young people themselves have views, opinions, and they are part of a 
leadership, too. They should be engaged in this issue.
  I am convinced if one is effectively to reduce teenage pregnancy, we 
must, indeed, bring the awareness to the community of the consequences 
of teenage pregnancies, not only to the families, the young people 
themselves, but also to the community. But more importantly, we must, 
indeed, engage our youth, because they are factored in resolving this 
issue.
  We have good news. Since 1990, teenage pregnancies have gone down. It 
has been a steady decline. So we should celebrate that as a Nation. We 
deserve to be proud of that activity. But in spite of our good efforts 
and success, still, yet today, more than 1 million children, young 
people, indeed, become pregnant each year, those younger than the age 
of 20. Nearly 1 million every year now, although it is going down, 
there is a steady number of persons, indeed, who are teenagers who are 
becoming parents before they reach their 20th birthday.
  Also, in my part of the State, eastern North Carolina, the rate is 
not going down as fast. In fact, I have several of my counties where 
the rate is higher than in my State. So I am, indeed, concerned about 
that.
  May, as I say, is an opportunity where we can bring the awareness to 
both the community and to the young people. The thing we want to 
emphasize to our young people that teenage is a time when they should 
be concentrating on education. They should be having fun. They should 
be talking about their career. They should be growing up and not 
focused on pregnancy or being a parent prematurely.
  Mr. Speaker, I was happy to join the gentlewoman from Connecticut 
(Mrs. Johnson) recently when the National Campaign to Prevent Teenage 
Pregnancy released their report. As the gentlewoman has already 
commented, that report emphasizes several things, both around parents 
and teenagers; and that teenagers really wanted to talk to their 
parents.
  Sometimes parents thought teenagers wanted to talk to teenagers and 
were getting all the information from them. But they really thought 
they should get that information from the parents. Both parents and 
teenagers agree more often than one would think. Ninety-five percent of 
parents felt that abstinence was absolutely what should happen. Ninety-
three percent of the teenagers thought, now one would not have thought 
that, but 93 percent of the teenagers themselves thought abstinence 
should be.
  Both those same groups also felt that, but a lesser degree in terms 
of the parents, that, indeed, contraception should be a part of the 
story, and that they were not necessarily in conflict with each other; 
that abstinence should be emphasized; and, indeed, that contraception 
information about that should be a part of that as well.
  Also, there was consensus about the role of the school. Both parents 
and teenagers felt that the primary role of the school was not 
necessarily to teach the values or the appropriateness, but there was a 
role for the schools, and that the school should be engaged in that 
process; that the primary responsibility should be the parent. If both 
parents and teenagers believe that, something must be missing in this 
game. It means that parents and teenagers are not talking to each 
other.
  Now, many of the parents, as I said earlier, on one hand believe that 
contraception information and abstinence may give a dual message that 
may be in conflict. But the teenagers did not believe that. They did 
not see it. They felt that abstinence, indeed, the 93 percent believed 
it; but also a vast majority of those teenagers also felt the 
information about contraception was very, very important.
  In fact, I personally believe that abstinence is the most important. 
But I also know that young people are very active sexually. So we must 
be engaged in providing the critical important information to teenagers 
so they can make the decision. I believe if we empower young people, 
they will make the difference.
  Over the last several years, I have spoken out often and devoted a 
lot of time and energy to teen pregnancy prevention. My most meaningful 
efforts have involved a host of meetings and discussions with youth and 
community leaders where the focus has been on prevention and 
development activities in my congressional district. This week, I 
visited three different schools including a senior high school and two 
middle schools.
  I am convinced that if we are to effectively reduce teenage 
childbearing, we must do more to raise the awareness level of this 
issue in our communities and actively engage our youth. Our youth have 
ideas, opinions and can provide leadership in our efforts to reduce 
teenage pregnancy.
  Since the early 1990s, teen pregnancy and birth rates have steadily 
declined. As a nation, we deserve to be proud of the progress we have 
made. Yet, despite these impressive gains, 4 out of 10 girls in this 
country still get pregnant at least once by age 20--nearly 1 million 
adolescent pregnancies each year. Also, in eastern North Carolina, the 
rate has not gone down at the same time as the Nation, several counties 
in my district are among the highest in the State. In other words, we 
have a long way to go.
  May is Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month. This is the most opportune 
time for all of us to redouble our efforts in convincing young people 
that adolescence must be a time for continued positive growth in the 
areas of education. It is the growing up and having fun

[[Page 8067]]

stage for youth, not the time to dwell on pregnancy and parenthood. I 
was happy to recently help the private, nonprofit National Campaign to 
Prevent Teen Pregnancy release two new important reports (including a 
large nationally representative survey of adults and teens) that should 
provide comfort to parents and schools while challenging.
  First, and perhaps most importantly, the survey released by the 
National Campaign clearly shows that the American public has a very 
common sense view of the teen pregnancy problem despite the often-
extreme rhetoric that surrounds the issue. The overwhelming majority of 
adults and teens believe that teens should not be sexually active but 
those who are should have access to contraception. The survey also 
reveals, however, that the public does not view abstinence and 
contraceptive use as equally attractive options. A clear national 
consensus exists that school-age teens should not have sex--more than 
nine of ten adults (95 percent) and teens (93 percent) said it is 
important that teens be given a strong abstinence message from society.
  The consensus position seems to recognize that the continued debate 
over abstinence versus contraception is counter-productive and misses 
the more critical issue of motivation. Teens will do neither unless 
they are highly motivated to avoid pregnancy in the first place.
  Parents who feel that they have lost their children to the influence 
of peers and popular culture should note that teens say their parents 
influence their sexual decisionmaking more than any other source. 
Parents, on the other hand, believe that peers wield the greatest 
influence on these matters. This generational divide must be bridged. 
Parents need to know that their children really do want to hear from 
them about sex, love, and relationships, even if they don't always seem 
like it.
  Schools are also clearly part of the solution to teen pregnancy. When 
asked where they have learned the most about preventing teen pregnancy, 
more teens said teachers and sex educators than other sources. Once 
again, however, both adults and teens take a common sense view of how 
much of the sex education burden schools should shoulder. Nine out of 
ten adults disagree that sex education is primarily the responsibility 
of schools and few adults or teens believe that schools are responsible 
for fixing the problem of teen pregnancy.
  So what should be done? What do these findings and others from the 
National Campaign suggest? Here are some simple recommendations for 
continued progress in preventing teen pregnancy:
  Abstinence should be strongly stressed as the best choice for teens 
because of its effectiveness and its consistency with the beliefs of 
adults and teens. But giving teens information about--and access to--
contraception is still important.
  Arguments over which strategy is better--sexual abstinence or 
contraceptive use--are recipes for stalemate. More of both are needed. 
In a diverse country, a number of difference approaches to preventing 
teen pregnancy is absolutely essential.
  Parents can do much more to help. Kids want to hear from their 
parents about sex and values but often do not.
  Effective programs to reduce teen pregnancy should be expanded, but 
it is unrealistic to assume that community programs alone will solve 
this problem.
  The good news about declining rates of teen pregnancy and birth is 
that progress on this seemingly intractable social problem is possible.
  I was delighted by the comments and suggestions made by youth during 
my recent visit to neighborhood schools. Youth are concerned about the 
lack of productive after school activities. Youth leaders would like to 
become more active in prevention activities with other youth, and would 
like to know that contraceptives are provided hassle free.
  I believe that devoting more energy resources and funding to 
prevention teen pregnancy would not only improve the health, education, 
and economic opportunities of our Nation's youth, but it would save 
money in the long run.
  We cannot overestimate the far-reaching effects of teen pregnancy. We 
must continue to pursue ways to develop pregnancy prevention programs 
that educate and support high-risk youth and their families through 
comprehensive social and health services.
  Young people who believe that they have real futures to risk, have 
real incentives to delay parenting. That is why when we demand 
responsible behavior we have reciprocal obligation to offer a real 
future beyond early parenting and poverty.
  I strongly support abstinence education and feel that abstinence 
programs are critically important for pre-teens as well as teens; we, 
however, cannot ignore the fact that so many of our teens are already 
sexually active. Therefore it is important that teens hear both 
messages, abstinence and contraception. Good, factual information is 
empowering to our youth, especially with guidance from their parents. I 
encourage each community to help determine how best to address this 
critical issue.

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