![In this Wednesday, April 18, 2012, file photo, Rep. Jim Gotto seeks recognition during a House Education Committee meeting in Nashville, Tenn. Tennessee recently enacted a pro-abstinence sex education law that is among the strictest in the nation. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig) In this Wednesday, April 18, 2012, file photo, Rep. Jim Gotto seeks recognition during a House Education Committee meeting in Nashville, Tenn. Tennessee recently enacted a pro-abstinence sex education law that is among the strictest in the nation. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig)](https://www.mintpress.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/No-Sex-Law_Webf-690x388.jpg)
(MintPress) – The state of Tennessee has put into place a pro-abstinence sex education law, being heralded as one of the strictest in the nation, which supporters say is a step in the right direction to curb teenage pregnancy rates. Critics on the other hand, charge the new law is harmful as it causes teens to be uneducated about sexuality and prevention of pregnancy and diseases.
Tennessee’s new “no holding-hands” bill
Tennessee’s Republican Gov. Bill Haslam signed the bill into law last month. Dubbed the “no holding-hands bill” by critics, it includes a provision barring educators from promoting “gateway sexual activity.” However, the definition of said activity was not specified in legislative debate, and those in opposition to the bill are saying it is not likely to be effective in reducing the state’s high instance of teenage pregnancies.
The state’s sex ed curriculum is already abstinence focused, but the new law includes provisions tightening up a curriculum which could be deemed as “too explicit” and may be interpreted to mean that teachers should discourage hugging and hand-holding.
In Tennessee, state Commission on Children and Youth reports that the state’s pregnancy rate among girls 15 to 17 has been on the decline since the first abstinence-focused sex education curriculum was put in place about two decades ago.
In 2009 there were 29.6 pregnancies per 1,000 girls, down from a rate of 48.2 in 1998, according to the most recent data.
National trends in teen pregnancies
But critics are quick to point out that Tennessee’s drop in teen pregnancy rates is not remarkable, as nationally this trend has been noted.
Teen pregnancies have declined dramatically in the United States since their peak in the early 1990s, as have the births and abortions that result; in 2008, teen pregnancies reached their lowest level in nearly 40 years, according to “U.S. Teenage Pregnancies, Births and Abortions, 2008: National Trends by Age, Race and Ethnicity,” by Kathryn Kost and Stanley Henshaw of the New York-based Guttmacher Institute, which tracks such statistics.
But the study revealed that Tennessee’s pregnancy rate is currently one of the highest in the nation.
“The recent declines in teen pregnancy rates are great news.” said lead author of the study Kathryn Kost. “However, the continued inequities among racial and ethnic minorities are cause for concern. It is time to redouble our efforts to ensure that all teens have access to the information and contraceptive services they need to prevent unwanted pregnancies,” she said.
The U.S. Census Bureau calculated that 77.6 percent of Tennessee’s approximately 6 million residents are white, according to the most recent census.
Moreover, the study found that the long-term decline in teen pregnancy, birth and abortion rates was driven primarily by improved use of contraception among teens. And, it said that while there was also a decrease during the 1990s in the overall proportion of females aged 15–19 who were sexually experienced, there has been almost no change in the proportion in recent years.
Nationally, in 2006–2008, 93 percent of teens aged 15–19 surveyed by Guttmacher had received formal instruction about sexually transmitted infections (STI’s). However, about one-third of teens had not received any formal instruction about contraception; fewer males received this instruction than females, the study said, and among teens aged 18–19, 41 percent reported that they know little or nothing about condoms and 75 percent say they know little or nothing about the contraceptive pill.
Sex ed recommended in reducing teen pregnancy rates
“Our perspective is that comprehensive sex education is appropriate and necessary for young people,” Elizabeth Nash, state issues manager for for the Guttmacher Institute, told the Associated Press.
Nash also said that over the last decade there has been a push by legislators nationwide to offer more comprehensive sex education programs to talk about abstinence in public schools. One recent bill in Utah was cited, which aimed to prevent any discussion of contraception or homosexuality in sex education classes. It was vetoed by Utah’s governor, but passed in the Legislature.
“What we know … from the research is that comprehensive sex education works. It delays sexual activity, it reduces the number of partners teens have, and it increases contraceptive use. There is very little in the way of any rigorous research that shows that abstinence education has any of these long-term benefits,” Nash said.
Rep. Jim Gotto, a Republican from Nashville in favor of the legislation, told the Associated Press, “It’s not abstinence-only education. I’m so sick of people trying to spin it as that … because they don’t like it. The law does specify that the curriculum has to be abstinence-focused, but they can talk about contraception.”
But the new law bans family life curriculum from displaying or conducting “demonstrations with devices specifically manufactured for sexual stimulation,” allowing parents to sue and educators to receive a possible $500 fine for violations.