Did you know a teen pregnancy prevention program in South Carolina helped lower pregnancy rates?

In 1982, the Denmark-Olar Teen Life Center in South Carolina initiated a highly effective teen pregnancy prevention program in Bamberg County.  The program provided young people with age-appropriate information about sex and contraception and offered participants personal counseling sessions.  The program was recently credited with helping the county reduce its teen pregnancy rate by two-thirds.  In contrast, nearby Allendale County has a pregnancy rate that is 2.6 times higher than Bamberg County. 

The United States has one of the highest teen-pregnancy rates in the industrialized world.  Programs, such as the one in Bamberg County, are critical in helping teens prevent pregnancy.  President Bush's solution to the teen pregnancy has been abstinence-only programs, which censor information about birth control and condoms.  However, abstinence-only programs have failed to have a positive effect on teen pregnancy.  As the Bamberg County experience demonstrates, common-sense programs that provide young people with accurate information and decision-making skills help prevent teen pregnancy and protect the health and well-being of young people. 

Betsy McKay, Winning the Battle on Teen Pregnancy, Wall St. J., July 22, 2006, at A1.