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Gary Langer is director of polling at ABC News, where he's covered the beat of public opinion for nearly 20 years - conducting and analyzing ABC News polls, evaluating data from other sources and setting the news division's standards for poll reporting. Langer has won two Emmy awards for ABC's reporting of public opinion polls in Iraq, and The Numbers blog was honored this year as winner of the 2008 Iowa Gallup Award for Excellent Journalism Using Polls.
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Palin and Teen Pregnancy
September 01, 2008 1:48 PM
Today's story on the pregnancy of Bristol Palin, 17-year-old daughter of Sarah Palin, raises a variety of hot-button social issues. As ever, it can help to cut though the inevitable rhetoric with some data.
A good place to start is the CDC's fact sheet on teen pregnancy:
-"About one-third of girls in the United States get pregnant before age 20."
-More than 80 percent of births in this group "were unintended, meaning they occurred sooner than desired or were not wanted at any time."
-"When teens give birth, their future prospects and those of their children decline. Teen mothers are less likely to complete high school and more likely to live in poverty than other teens. Pregnant teens aged 15–19 years are less likely to receive prenatal care and gain appropriate weight and more likely to smoke than pregnant women aged 20 years or older. These factors are also associated with poor birth outcomes."
Separately, in a report on 2002 data, the CDC said 7.6 percent of U.S. teenagers were pregnant in 2002, down from 11.7 percent in 1990.
Per that report: “Despite the continuous declines, the U.S. teenage pregnancy rate is still among the highest among industrialized nations. The costs of teenage childbearing in the United States are substantial. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy recently estimated that $9.1 billion in public funding was expended on teenage childbearing in 2004. These costs include public assistance, health care, child welfare, and other expenses."
In another CDC report, 46 percent of high-school girls reported having had sexual intercourse in 2002, rising from 27 percent of 9th graders to 66 percent of 12th graders.
Attitudinally, in a CDC survey of 15- to 44-year-olds in 2002, large majorities of men and women (78 and 85 percent, respectively) disagreed that it’s “all right for 16-year-olds to have sexual relations if they have strong affection for each other.” More said this was OK for 18-year-olds – 51 percent of women, 60 percent of men. The report notes that acceptability of sex among 18-year-olds was far lower among “people for whom religion was very important in their daily lives.”
And in an AP/Ipsos poll last October, Americans divided on the best way to reduce teen pregnancy. Fifty-one percent said it was by “emphasizing sex education and birth control”; 46 percent, “by emphasizing morality and abstinence.”
Lastly, we ourselves conducted a fascinating, in-depth survey on teens and sex several years back. It's clearly as relevant as ever, and you can read it here.
September 1, 2008 in Social Issues | Permalink | User Comments (77)
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Republican cover-ups, hypocrisy, and lies at its best. What a massive joke they have and are perpetrating on the unsuspecting and uninformed illiterate pop. And, they eat this up.
Too funny, if it weren't so pathetic!
Posted by: Ellen | Sep 1, 2008 2:00:57 PM
I know the Dems are going to have a field day with this, as if, nothing has ever happened like this in their families. Let him without sin cast the first stone, right? I applaud Palin for coming out so quickly and announcing this. She is a family person and problems happen. I know that Obama will not touch this, if he does, he will be skewered.
Thank you, Gov. Palin for coming forth with this information. I don't see this changing voters minds of you, but actually, helping to solidfy the GOP vote even more because of your stance.
McCain/Palin 08!
Posted by: david from texas | Sep 1, 2008 2:33:14 PM
That's the real issue here, isn't it? An impractical notion of sexual education that results in more teenage pregnancies and weddings surely can't be liquidated as "a personal matter".
Posted by: Marco | Sep 1, 2008 4:15:34 PM
This is not a political issue, it is a family issue. Kids learn about safe sex early these days and a lot of them are going by the old "It won't happen to me" idea. How skewered would her mom be if she went to have an abortion and the media found out? Would you rather her murder her baby so her mom didn't have to deal with the backlash?
Posted by: Denise | Sep 1, 2008 6:56:17 PM
Excellent satire David. I hope.
Yeah she's a family person, that's exactly why she doesn't belong in the White House- she belongs at home helping her too young daughter raise a child without the pressures and humiliation of being in the public eye- not to mention her own responsibility to a 4 month old with Downs.
Wake up republicans, I'm an economic conservative with traditionalist values and I will not under any circumstances vote for the laughable duo that is McCain Palin.
Posted by: Reginald | Sep 1, 2008 7:10:54 PM
Senator Obama says that children are off limits in campaigns. Yes, that may be so. But a woman's right to choose is not off limits. So I tell ya what: I'll not pass judgement on the governor's daughter, and the Republicans can keep their laws off my body. Sound like a deal?
Posted by: Victoria Pagan | Sep 1, 2008 7:25:53 PM
I feel real sorry for this McCain dude. He has got Bush there, and now it's Palin. Reminds me of Murphy's Law.
Posted by: Sid | Sep 1, 2008 8:14:55 PM
It is a sad turn of events and I agree that children should be off limits. It is important that the governor and her daughter deal with this matter privately as I am certain that all families would. No need to drag the Supreme Court into this...do we all agree?
Posted by: Tawanna Jones | Sep 1, 2008 8:33:07 PM
Exactly, Tawanna. Let's not bring shame and undue social pressures to this poor young girl. Keep her out of the white house
Posted by: Reginald | Sep 1, 2008 9:37:24 PM
McCain!!!!
There are plenty of more qualified female GOP members out there.
I want to vote for you but your health issues are a serious concern and this is a very stressful job for a 72 yr old.
Palin is way over her head...
Besides,the Republicans had 7 yrs to capture Bin Laden and couldn't do that. He's in a cave in Afghanistan and not in Iraq...time to give the Dems a shot at nailing him...
Posted by: Roger | Sep 1, 2008 11:53:59 PM
Teenage pregnancy is as old as man! Somewhere in everyone's family tree we all have family members that has experience this. You deal with it and move on. But when you put yourself in a glasshouse by being holier than thou preaching abstinence only Education, Family Values,Pro-life,etc,etc. and your teenage daughter becomes pregnant then your hypocrisy come back too bite you in the ass. Now all of a sudden you want this to be a private matter...when you were so willing and able to tell others how to live their life's. Its call HYPOCRISY! So remember this Sarah... If your gonna talk the talk you must try something NEW and walk the walk! Be a good Mother and Republican, RESIGN the VP pick and spare the Nation and your family from this NOW very public drama. Oh ya and John on your very first major decision your judgment SUCKS!!!
Posted by: GlassHouse | Sep 2, 2008 3:09:56 AM
This will boost the popularity of McCain. Teenage pregnancy has touched many families in the US and will do so again with this matter. Watch out Obama this looks like a tropical storm but it's really a typhoon...
Posted by: Martin | Sep 2, 2008 6:08:05 AM
i dont care about teen preg. but if thsi was obama,s daughter the republican slime machine would tear him apart. so we democrats should tear mccain apart.
Posted by: tom | Sep 2, 2008 7:56:02 AM
The frustrating part about the Palin teen pregnancy admission is that it is a distraction from the real issues that need to be addressed in this election. When a major political party has no real platform to run on, they have always been masters at introducing irrelevant issues that galvanize their fundamental base. Personal politics aside, maybe the republicans should start considering how sex education actually helps teens make informed choices and prevent unwanted pregnancies. This would be a win/win situation for America's youth, our educational prospects, and economy.
Posted by: Brian Hubbard | Sep 2, 2008 8:24:44 AM
I think it is so wrong for the media to make such a big deal over this pregnancy you would think she is the first person to ever be pregnant. Why don't you mind your own business this woman never claimed to be perfect or to have perfect children. Maybe all of you who are without sin in their lives cast the first stone. The media has just gotten so out of control I hate to watch your shows anymore because of the way you treat people. Try putting your self in their place before you ask some of the stupid question you ask.You can run something into the ground so fast if you have to talk about others hardships do it once and drop it and you may find that more people watch your show because you care about people and not asking stupid question or running something into the ground. Maybe they should put some of your lives under a microscope and see how pur and holy your lives are.
Posted by: carol | Sep 2, 2008 9:22:11 AM
It is none of the media's business and certainly none of the public's business, I am ashamed once again of the people in the country if they think it is ok to intrude on the lives of children. Shouldn't this campaine be about the people who have chosen to run not their families.
Posted by: chris sicinski | Sep 2, 2008 9:23:17 AM
Teen pregnancy is the norm in most families today, but the statement that grated my heart was that the Palins are "proud" grandparents. I am proud of my daugther and pround of my grandchildren but, I wasn't "proud" when I learned that my teenage daughter was pregnant. I took it as a pesonal failure on all levels. Sure; no question on the support factor, no question on standing by my daughter at any cost, but being proud of my grand child did not come until after the birth of the child. I think on a moral level the word proud should have been left off the speach. What message are you sending when you tell your child, I am proud of the situation - well heck, let me make you proud again, and agian, and again.
Jodie
Posted by: Jodie | Sep 2, 2008 9:25:57 AM
Must be a slow day in the political arena that the media has to focus on a 17-year-old girl. Why is this worthy of air time?
Posted by: carol | Sep 2, 2008 9:29:47 AM
I agree with carol, leave the seventeen year old girl alone, and let start talking about the issue's that matter in our world today, like healthcare, ecomony, the war. I believe this is a personal matter with in their family and that the whole country does not need to weigh in on it.
Posted by: Retha Jay | Sep 2, 2008 9:38:41 AM
I am a high school teacher and mother of a nineteen year old daughter, and I agree with Brian's comments. Education works better than a lack of it.
I also agree that the political issues
are what should be addrssed here.
Palin might be a wonderful mother(or not)but is she qualified to be the vice president, or possibly president, in the event McCain can not.
Posted by: Sandy | Sep 2, 2008 9:53:34 AM
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