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Article: Programs help prevent teen pregnancy.
- Article from:
- State Legislatures
- Article date:
- January 1, 1999
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 National Conference of State Legislatures. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Approximately 1 million teenage girls become pregnant each year in the United States. But two different programs with supporters in opposite camps - abstinence and comprehensive sexuality education - may be helping decrease those numbers.
The 1996 welfare reform package contained $50 million to implement abstinence programs that focus on the importance of abstinence from sexual intercourse until marriage. Eighteen states did so in 1998. Mississippi's HB 1304 makes abstinence education the state standard for any sex-related education taught in the public schools and prohibits any demonstration of condoms or contraceptives. SR 158 in Pennsylvania recognized the ...