From: Kirsten Emmott

   More  quotes  from "Contraceptive Technology" where I got
most of my statistics:

   "The pregnancy rate (in the USA) is so high because  only
a  minority  (one  in  three) of sexually active young women
always use contraception.

   Even among these, at most one in two relies on  the  most
effective methods.    The  two  most common reasons given by
adolescents for not using contraception are  believing  that
the  risk  of  pregnancy  is small and failing to anticipate
that intercourse would occur.

   "Experience in other developed countries where adolescent
sexual experience is just as prevalent  shows  clearly  that
the  incidence  of  pregnancy  can  be  reuced  if effective
contraceptives are made widely available.  High-quality  sex
education    programs   that   include   information   about
contraception, reproductive biology, and responsible  sexual
behavior  can  enhance  the  effectiveness  of contraceptive
delivery  systems  but  are  NOT  a  substitute  for  actual
provision of services and supplies.

   "Although  having  a  child  at  an  early  age  does not
necessarily condemn a young woman to a life of  misery,  the
consequences  of  adolescent childbearing are overwhelmingly
negative on average.  There are no  inexpensive  short  term
interventions to ameliorate these negative consequences.

   "There  is  formidable  political opposition to providing
sexual knowledge and contraceptives to  adolescents.    That
oppostion  comes  from a vocal minority who believe that the
-problem- is premarital sexual activity.    Those  who  hold
this  view argue that if the cost of such sexual activity is
lowered by a reduced risk of pregnancy, then adolescent  sex
will become  legitimized  and will increase.  This political
impasse guarantees a continuing large supply  of  adolescent
pregnancies."

   Comment:  I  can't  help thinking that in the USA, racism
has something to with the lack of  political  will.    Since
successful  capitalism  thrives  on  having a large class of
underemployed paupers to provide cheap labour, it is in  the
interests  of rich white folks to keep, say, black people as
poor as possible.  One can efficiently pauperize  people  by
keeping  them  struggling  with  very  early childbearing on
welfare; a fact that has not escaped Jesse Jackson.