by Emily Bridges, Director, Public Information Services

June 20, 2012

A new report from the CDC presents detailed pregnancy rates from 1990-2008.  A few takeaways include:

The teen pregnancy rate has fallen steadily since 1990, and in 2008, fell below that of women ages 30-34.  Young women in their twenties have the highest pregnancy rates.

• Pregnancy rates for women in their early 20s have remained about the same since 2002.
• Disparities in teen pregnancy remain:  African American and Hispanic teens have rates 2-3 higher than white teens.
• The CDC names as two potential causes, that young people are choosing not to have sex until older ages, and that more female teens are using the most effective forms of contraception.

In our factsheet Unintended Pregnancy Among Young People in the United States, Advocates explores the structural barriers many young people experience to preventing unintended pregnancy.  Although it remains imperative to dismantle these barriers, we welcome news that many young people have the information and access to contraception and health services they need to prevent unintended pregnancy.

A recent New York Times article highlighted a growing problem among those living with HIV:  people who are HIV positive are four times as likely to have a heart attack as those who are HIV negative.  Researchers do not fully understand the connection between heart disease and HIV, but believe they may include inflammation, antiretroviral therapy interruption, and conflicting medications.  HIV is no longer a “death sentence,” but it can create many health complications, especially for young people who will live with the virus and take medication for a long time.  Those who are living with HIV should be aware of the HIV/heart disease connection and consult their doctor about protecting heart health.

The current AIDS Journal looks back on 25 years of HIV and discusses its history, unanswered questions, and new approaches to epidemiology, treatment, and prevention.

The Guttmacher Institute has released Adding It Up: Costs and Benefits of Contraceptive Services—Estimates for 2012.  The report finds that 222 million women around the world want to avoid pregnancy but are not using a modern method of contraception.  In the world’s poorest countries, since 2008, the number of women who need contraception has increased by 9 million.  The report analyzes the costs and benefits of providing contraceptive services to women who need them, finding that women’s health could be protected, and billions of dollars saved, by investing in family planning services.

This week, the  New England Journal of Medicine published a study in which hormonal contraception was found to be linked to stroke and heart attack.  Contraceptive options with higher doses of ethynyl estradiol, the estrogen compound found in most hormonal birth control, had higher risk of stroke and heart attack.  However, at the same time the NEJM published an editorial that stressed that overall, risks were still VERY low, especially compared to the risks of unintended pregnancy. 

Said the editorial’s author:  “The amount of attention paid to these minuscule risks, and what are likely to be very small differences in vascular risk, detracts attention from more salient issues, like preventing unwanted pregnancy.” 

Currently, the CDC classifies all hormonal methods as either “no restriction for the use of this method” or “the benefits of this method outweigh the risks.”  For the majority of women this study is unlikely to change that, though women with high blood pressure are urged to avoid hormonal birth control.

Hormonal birth control remains a highly effective way for sexually active women, including young women, to prevent unintended pregnancy.

The problem of sexual abuse has been in the news as the trial of coach and accused child sexual abuser Jerry Sandusky continues this week.

On Tuesday, the Amateur Athletic Union announced new guidelines for coaches and athletic staff working with children.  These include stronger background checks and a ban on adults being alone with children.  

The New York Times published an interesting blog about addressing child sexual abuse with boys and how cultural factors, messages and approaches may differ from those used with girls.

Advocates for Youth recently published two new factsheets about child sexual abuse, including the latest studes, statistics and prevention approaches.  Check them out:

Child Sexual Abuse: An Overview

Child Sexual Abuse: Resiliency and Prevention

If you are an educator or youth serving professional, check out Advocates' lesson plan for discussing sexual abuse with teens and providing them with tools to help themselves and others. 

by Emily Bridges, Director, Public Information Services

In the news this week has been a study which has been getting lots of media coverage.  You may have seen headlines like ABC’s “Study: Kids of Parents in Same-sex Relationships Fare Worse as Adults.”  The study looked at adult children whose parents had been in a same-sex relationship at some point in their lives, and found that these adults experience more of certain negative outcomes, like anxiety, depression, and unemployment.

A few important facts:

1. The study asked about same-sex behavior, not orientation, so a person with a heterosexual-identified parent who had briefly had a same-sex partner qualified for the study.
2. The study examined current adults ages 18-39, who would have been growing up in, at the latest, the 1990s, and at the earliest, the 1970s.
3. The study was funded by the conservative think tank Witherspoon Institute, which opposes same-sex marriage.

In an article on Slate, the study’s author claimed that the study did a better job of representing the reality of gay parenting than previous studies which found better outcomes for children.  But does it?    Check out William Saletan’s discussion of the study sample:  so-called “broken” families were included in the sample of LGBT families but excluded from the “biological family” category.  Regardless of your feelings about marriage’s importance to society, that doesn’t seem like a fair comparison.  Plus, as one researcher observed:

"To determine whether a parental same-sex relationship affects a child's outcome, it is critical to know the length of these relationships, and whether the same-sex partners were actually living with, and parenting, the child for any length of time. The study does not assess this.”

Or, as the New York Times notes:

“…the research was rigorous, providing some of the best data yet comparing outcomes for adult children with a gay parent with those with heterosexual parents. But they also said the findings were not particularly relevant to the current debate over gay marriage or gay parenting.”

That is, an unhappy person whose daddy had a boyfriend in the 80s doesn’t really compare to children in today’s LGBT families.  It’s unfortunate on the researcher’s part, and irresponsible on much of the media’s part, to pretend that this study has some insight into today’s LGBT families.

The children of today’s LGBT parents are growing up in a time of far more acceptance and “outness.”  Their parents have more financial and legal supports, especially in states where same-sex marriage is legal.  Their parents’ experiences are less associated with secrecy and shame.  They are proud, and diverse, families.

And that’s one interesting takeaway from the study  - its findings on diversity.  The study found that children who had experienced same-sex parental relationships were not more likely to live in “gayer” geographical areas but live all over the country; Georgia was the state with the most same-sex couple parents, while many lived in the midwest.  That’s a good reminder that LGBT families are everywhere.  We need to respect and support them, not use misleading headlines and flawed science to push a conservative religious agenda.