When a 17-year-old becomes pregnant, there may be talk at school and tears at home, but the girl and her parents are generally not foisted into the national spotlight. ...more

September 3, 2008

Proponents of sex education programs that focus on encouraging abstinence are launching a nationwide campaign aimed at enlisting 1 million parents to support the controversial approach. ...more

June 1, 2008

Contrary to popular belief, teens do not appear to commonly engage in oral sex as a way to preserve their virginity, according to the first study to examine the question nationally. ...more

May 20, 2008

With more states declining an abstinence-only approach to sex education, Florida remains a big promoter of abstinence education, even as new studies show the emphasis is failing to keep many kids from having sex. ...more

January 2, 2008

The number of states refusing federal money for "abstinence-only" sex education programs jumped sharply in the past year as evidence mounted that the approach is ineffective. ...more

December 16, 2007

After falling steadily for more than a decade, the birth rate for American teenagers jumped last year for the first time since 1991, federal health officials reported Wednesday, a sharp reversal in what has been one of the nation's most celebrated social and public health successes. ...more

December 6, 2007

The teen birth rate in America rose sharply between 1986 and 1991, when it hit an all-time high of 61.8 births per 1,000 girls. Then it began a steady decline, plummeting 34 percent between 1991 and 2005, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. ...more

December 6, 2007

Programs that focus exclusively on abstinence have not been shown to affect teenager sexual behavior, although they are eligible for tens of millions of dollars in federal grants, according to a study released by a nonpartisan group that seeks to reduce teen pregnancies. ...more

November 7, 2007