[Finer Woman10-A-91]

We wish it were as easy as here ya go...take bc and you will be fine. Call me old fashioned, but I still believe abstinence should be taught. Not all of us were having sex when we were in highschool...or college. The growing AIDS population is in the highschool age group. Pregnant? Shoot, ya betta hope ya don't contract a fatal disease!

No, I don't think bc in the highschools is the answer at all. I think we need to deal with why young girls believe sex is a substitute for love. We need to address why young girls knowingly are willing to struggle off of the system with that cute little baby everyone coos and ahhs over, that loves her mama unconditionally. We need to ask ourselves why do young girls want to have babies and not go to college....or do anything for that matter. We need to ask why or how young boys impregnate multiple girls and they do not assume the responsibility of their role in the conjugation. We need to stop believing its okay to cut afterschool programs from our education system. These are the hours when children are home alone and are most likely to have sex.

I believe in my heart of hearts when we start addressing the needs of our youth on a very personal level we will be able to make more progress in decreasing the number of teenage pregnancies. Our young girls and young boys need our guidance and they need to learn to be more in tune with their own self worth.

Plug: "Don't Give It Away" by Iyanla Vanzant

Although this book is geared toward young women, many of the concepts can be used with young men.