WXXI: Nonprofit Pushes to Prevent Teen Pregnancy (2009-11-05)

Planned Parenthood is making a push to prevent teen pregnancy in Western New York.

Rochester-Syracuse Region medical director Dr. Rachael Phelps told an audience of supporters Wednesday that teen pregnancy rates differ radically between the United States and Western Europe.

The U.S. leads in teen pregnancy rates, sexually transmitted infection rates, abortion rates, and in promiscuity - despite the fact teens across the globe generally initiate sexual activity at the same time.

Phelps says the difference isn't when teens start having sex - it's attitudes about sex. Citing a study that compares Dutch and American parents' attitudes about teen sex, she says in the U.S., teen sexuality is depicted as a "battle of the sexes."

"As a result boys and girls are treated very differently by their parents. American parents stress the ways in which girls and boys have opposing - even antagonistic - needs and desires. Boys want sex, girls want love. Right? Well, not in the Netherlands. Dutch parents actually don't perceive any conflict between the sexes at all, but rather a relationship between two people with mutual interests and desires.

Phelps says in the U.S. teenagers are cast as hormonally-driven, and unable to control their actions. That leads to sex being equated with risk, and parents and schools attempting to address behavior through fear.

Phelps compared that to the Netherlands, where sex is depicted as a normal part of a long-term monogamous relationship. She says there, teen pregnancy rates are dramatically lower because parents talk with their children and monitor them as they come of age sexually.

To combat high teen pregnancy rates, Planned Parenthood is working get young people better access to barrier and hormonal birth control methods.

It's also testing a program in Syracuse that uses community partnerships to get parents to talk more openly with their kids about sex.