We are failing in role of counselor
LAST WEEK yet another headline - "Efforts to cut teen sex, STDs faltering, report says" (Page A16, June 5) - reminds us that we are failing our young people when it comes to teaching them how to make healthy decisions about sex and relationships. After decades of progress, we are stagnating, if not back-sliding, on the numbers of teens who delay intercourse and use condoms to protect themselves when they do become sexually active. On the heels of studies showing that one in four teen girls has a sexually transmitted disease and that teen births are on the rise, this is bad news indeed. Perhaps most troubling is that researchers are finding wide disparities by race and ethnicity, with young women of color bearing the brunt of these trends.
The Massachusetts Legislature can do something, and soon. The House-Senate conference committee fiscal 2009 budget is set to decide how much we will invest in proven teen pregnancy prevention and family planning programs.
No one finds it easy to talk with teenagers about sex. But I hope we can all agree that the next generation deserves better than what we're doing now.
ANDREA N. MILLER
Executive director
NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts
Boston
