October 29, 2001
Churches urged to speak on pregnancy
___WASHINGTON (RNS)--The vast majority of teens and adults think houses of worship should be doing more to reduce levels of teen pregnancy, a new poll has found.
___A survey commissioned by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy concluded that 70 percent of adults and 72 percent of teens believe religious congregations need to contribute more to teen pregnancy prevention.
___The Washington-based organization announced the survey results in conjunction with its release of two related reports. The campaign, a non-partisan group that accepts diverse views on how to prevent teen pregnancy, has a goal of reducing the rate of teen pregnancy by one-third between 1996 and 2005.
___"While common sense tells us that faith leaders and faith communities make a real difference in helping teens grow up healthy both physically and spiritually, a number of barriers have prevented the faith and secular sectors from working well together to meet their common goal of helping teens avoid too-early pregnancy and parenting," reads the introduction to "Keeping the Faith: The Role of Religion and Faith Communities in Preventing Teen Pregnancy."
___Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, author of a chapter in the report, urged bridging the "health/faith divide" to address pregnancy prevention among teens.
___"Teen pregnancy prevention needs all the help it can get from all the quarters from which there is help to be given," said Whitehead, co-director of the National Marriage Project. "We can and should look to our faith communities for a partnership here."
___Brian Wilcox, lead author of another chapter in the report, found that teens who frequently attend worship services are less likely to have permissive attitudes about sexual intercourse. But he and a team of researchers also found that frequent worship attendance is linked with increased contraceptive use among boys and decreased contraceptive use among girls.
___In a panel discussion about the findings, Wilcox, a psychology professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, speculated that boys might think contraception is "the moral thing to do" but "guilt might be driving the behavior of adolescent girls."
___The campaign released a second report, "Snapshots from the Front Line III: Lessons from Faith-based Efforts to Prevent Teen Pregnancy," that highlights examples of religious groups addressing the issue.
___The survey, taken in early September by International Communications Research, a Pennsylvania-based polling firm, found that 40 percent of teens considered their parents as the most influential source for their decisions about sex while 6 percent said their minister, rabbi or other religious leader had the most influence.
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