Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

World's Lowest Teen Pregnancy Rate: How Do the Dutch Do It?
Medscape Conference Report ^

Posted on 10/13/2006 12:10:50 PM PDT by SirLinksalot

World's Lowest Teen Pregnancy Rate: How Do the Dutch Do It?

Teenage pregnancy is a stubborn problem in many countries, both developed and developing. The Netherlands is not one of these, however. This small country boasts of the lowest teenage pregnancy and abortion rates in the world -- lower even than those in Sweden, another success story.[13] Rik H. W. Van Lunsen[14] of the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, shared his explanation for this stellar record in the final presentation of the first session on contraception.

Counseling is the key. This leitmotif echoed throughout Dr. Van Lunsen's presentation: education, not medical interventions, had made the difference. He attributed the success in The Netherlands to 4 principal factors: liberal sexual attitudes, excellent sex education, free supplies of contraceptives, and legal abortion. He noted that the first factor was especially important for healthcare providers.

Dr. Van Lunsen emphasized the need to de-medicalize the traditional approach to contraception for teenagers. He reported on survey data from his country, pointing out that fear of a pelvic examination was an important deterrent for young women in need of contraception.

Hence, Dutch physicians clearly advise young women that they will not have a pelvic examination on the first visit; it will be exclusively devoted to counseling and provision of contraceptives. He noted that the pelvic examination is medically unnecessary.

Surveys of adolescent women found 3 considerations to be important: nonjudgmental attitudes on the part of providers, confidentiality, and de-medicalization of the encounter. In response, the Dutch approach is to make the first visit for contraception only for counseling. Second, no mandatory follow-up is built in. Third, teenagers have easy access to services at no cost.[15]

The Dutch have a reputation for pragmatism. This certainly applies to their approach to the touchy issue of adolescent sexuality and contraception. In many societies, the approach to adolescent sexuality is schizoid: teenagers are immersed in sexual imagery yet straight talk about sex is scarce. The United States is an example of such a society, and its teenage pregnancy rates, though falling, remain higher than those in other industrialized nations. By contrast, teenagers in Sweden have coitus earlier and more often than do US teenagers, but with 1 important difference: they seldom get pregnant.[13]

The forthright Dutch approach accepts that adolescents are sexual beings and provides them with both information and services in a nonthreatening way.[15] When treated as adults, teenagers respond appropriately. Other nations have much to learn from the Dutch approach: it is hard to fight success. The take-home message for clinicians is that the pelvic examination is not only medically unnecessary before beginning hormonal contraception but also deters some young women from adopting safe, effective contraception. Thus, the traditional requirement of a pelvic examination indirectly leads to unwanted pregnancies and induced abortions. Young women deserve better.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: dutch; lowest; teenpregnancy
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-5051-100101-133 next last
So, does this mean that excellent sex education ( without teaching abstinence) works to lower teen preganancy ?.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.

1 posted on 10/13/2006 12:10:51 PM PDT by SirLinksalot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot
Conversely, the native Dutch also have an extremely low birth rate (way below replenishment) and will soon be taken over by Muslims with much higher birth rates...
2 posted on 10/13/2006 12:13:07 PM PDT by 2banana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot
World's Lowest Teen Pregnancy Rate: How Do the Dutch Do It?

Free heroin and needles?

3 posted on 10/13/2006 12:14:16 PM PDT by snarks_when_bored
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot

They love that word "nonjudgmental"


4 posted on 10/13/2006 12:14:22 PM PDT by theDentist (Qwerty ergo typo : I type, therefore I misspelll.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot

So, how do they do it? Those wooden shoes.


5 posted on 10/13/2006 12:19:02 PM PDT by billhilly
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: snarks_when_bored

Lots of drug use = reduced libido, lowered sperm counts, impotence = fewer pregnancies.


6 posted on 10/13/2006 12:19:31 PM PDT by Clioman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot
This reads like propaganda. No wonder these two societies -- Sweden and The Netherlands -- are forming fewer and fewer stable marriages. All the teens are out f*cking everyone in sight, but it's no problem because everyone is wearing protection.

They can brag about low teen pregnancies, but I think they're missing the bigger point --sex for marriage and procreation is in free fall.

7 posted on 10/13/2006 12:19:32 PM PDT by WashingtonSource
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2banana

Maybe they just don't like sex all that much?


8 posted on 10/13/2006 12:19:57 PM PDT by lesser_satan (EKTHELTHIOR!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot

Wooden condoms?


9 posted on 10/13/2006 12:20:15 PM PDT by Buck W. (If you push something hard enough, it will fall over.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2banana; SirLinksalot
Conversely, the native Dutch also have an extremely low birth rate (way below replenishment) and will soon be taken over by Muslims with much higher birth rates...

And much less "liberal" attitudes towards fornication.

10 posted on 10/13/2006 12:21:24 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot

Something to do with all the dikes, I suspect.


11 posted on 10/13/2006 12:21:44 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: WashingtonSource
They can brag about low teen pregnancies, but I think they're missing the bigger point --sex for marriage and procreation is in free fall.

I wonder if we have to choose between being value neutral on teen sex (or even encouraging) and low pregnancy rates or discouraging teen sex and higher pregnancy rates?

12 posted on 10/13/2006 12:21:48 PM PDT by Dianna
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot

Legal prostitution has nothing to do with it either.


13 posted on 10/13/2006 12:22:36 PM PDT by frithguild (The Freepers moved as a group, like a school of sharks sweeping toward an unaware and unarmed victim)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: theDentist

So Dutch teens are asked for no real sexual discipline beyond using birth control. What are the stats on STDs, depression, suicide, and drug use among Dutch and Swedish teens? How do they view their country's sovereignty? Will they survive as a Western country with their growing Muslim populations?

Rather than being a positive model, I would say that the once proud Dutch have surrendered to the brave new world which holds a dark and expedient view of human life. Spiritual poverty is not a good thing.


14 posted on 10/13/2006 12:23:02 PM PDT by Monterrosa-24 (...even more American than a Russian AK-47 and a French bikini.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Clioman

Yup.


15 posted on 10/13/2006 12:23:43 PM PDT by snarks_when_bored
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot

"4 principal factors: liberal sexual attitudes, excellent sex education, free supplies of contraceptives, and legal abortion"

So 25% of their principal factors for having a low teen pregnancy rate is due to cutting the fetus out of their teenagers and returning the potential cause of teenage pregnancy back to the dust where it came from.


16 posted on 10/13/2006 12:23:53 PM PDT by shineon
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot
Let's see. Abortion + homo promotion + artificial birth control + pathetic birth rate among native Dutch + high birth rate among Muslim immigrants = success?

If that's the case, I hope our sex-ed fail miserably in this country.
17 posted on 10/13/2006 12:24:54 PM PDT by Antoninus (Ruin a Democrat's day...help re-elect Rick Santorum.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot
Well, The Lancet, has reported that 8% of infant mortality in Holland is due to LEATHAL INJECTION. And in a survey, 40% of Dutch physicians admitted to the procedure.

I would not look to the Dutch for ANY answers.

18 posted on 10/13/2006 12:25:08 PM PDT by right-wingin_It
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot

Well, the 4th reason they give, free legal abortions, doesn't really lead to a lower pregnancy rate, it leads to a lower birth rate.


19 posted on 10/13/2006 12:25:10 PM PDT by eyespysomething
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot
So, does this mean that excellent sex education

Perhaps their teens are just more willing to listen and learn. The teens here already know it all....or think they do anyway.
20 posted on 10/13/2006 12:25:14 PM PDT by P-40 (Al Qaeda was working in Iraq. They were just undocumented.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot

Meanwhile the Muzzies in Holland are breeding like flies.


21 posted on 10/13/2006 12:25:15 PM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Joe 6-pack

Now that's funny!


22 posted on 10/13/2006 12:26:13 PM PDT by Paco
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: WashingtonSource

> All the teens are out f*cking everyone in sight

No different than anywhere else in the world.


23 posted on 10/13/2006 12:26:37 PM PDT by orionblamblam (Prayers... give people the feeling they're doing something without making any real effort.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot
World's Lowest Teen Pregnancy Rate: How Do the Dutch Do It?

Honor killings.

24 posted on 10/13/2006 12:27:03 PM PDT by Sloth ('It Takes A Village' is problematic when you're raising your child in Sodom.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Monterrosa-24
So Dutch teens are asked for no real sexual discipline beyond using birth control. What are the stats on STDs, depression, suicide, and drug use among Dutch and Swedish teens? How do they view their country's sovereignty? Will they survive as a Western country with their growing Muslim populations?

Of the 20 or so Dutch people I've known, only one couple had anything like a traditional marriage--and they were in their 60s. The rest of them were a mess--divorced, alcoholic, suicidal, skanks, you name it. One guy was living with a woman who was 30 years older than him--and not his mother. Their kids were almost universally screwed up.

I hope the situation in the countryside is better, because Amsterdam is one socially screwed up place.
25 posted on 10/13/2006 12:28:23 PM PDT by Antoninus (Ruin a Democrat's day...help re-elect Rick Santorum.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot

"World's Lowest Teen Pregnancy Rate: How Do the Dutch Do It? "

It's a surgical procedure. The knees are fused together at the age of 12. The procedure is reversed prior to the honeymoon.


26 posted on 10/13/2006 12:29:04 PM PDT by mark3681
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot

Crapola alert: where are the stats? what is the abortion rate? what is the rate of morning after abortion pills?


27 posted on 10/13/2006 12:31:00 PM PDT by Notwithstanding
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: orionblamblam
No different than anywhere else in the world.

Only true in those societies that are busy committing demographic suicide. Everyone sterile-ly scr*ws everyone else between 14 and 30. Nobody bothers to marry, so they never form healthy families that plenty of sociological studies prove are the best environment for raising healthy children. But that's no problem, because a lot of them don't have any kids, or only one. Of course, not of a few of the women are sterile anyway because of PID spread by slutty behavior patterns.

Demographic suicide through loose sex.

There will be no "Netherlands" and no "Sweden" in 150 years.

28 posted on 10/13/2006 12:34:08 PM PDT by Campion ("I am so tired of you, liberal church in America" -- Mother Angelica, 1993)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot

In the butt???


29 posted on 10/13/2006 12:34:11 PM PDT by jerod
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot

You know what they say about Dutch girls....



30 posted on 10/13/2006 12:34:19 PM PDT by Pondman88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Antoninus

"...I hope the situation in the countryside is better, because Amsterdam is one socially screwed up place."

Yes, and the Dutch countryside is so beautiful. I had a conversation with a Dutch businessman who wanted to be thought of as "a citizen of the world" instead of Dutch. Had another conversation with a Dutchman who was so ashamed of the "racist" South African Dutch (Afrikaners). I just get the feeling that the herd mentality and PC thinking have the Dutch running over the cliff like Lemmings.


31 posted on 10/13/2006 12:35:16 PM PDT by Monterrosa-24 (...even more American than a Russian AK-47 and a French bikini.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot

If I were the Dutch, I would do everything possible to encourage all pregnancy, regardless of age. They are in a demographic death spiral, and the Muzzies are knocking at the door.


32 posted on 10/13/2006 12:35:25 PM PDT by gridlock (The 'Pubbies will pick up at least TWO seats in the Senate and FOUR seats in the House in 2006)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot

Beastiality is legal there. Their women may escape, but check out the animal hospitals where they take their pets.


33 posted on 10/13/2006 12:37:22 PM PDT by sgtbono2002 (The fourth estate is a fifth column.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot

Fertility rate in the Netherlands in 2000 was 1.6 children per woman; in Sweden it was 1.56 children per woman. That's not factoring out the higher fertility rates of any immigrant populations. Those countries are fornicating, contracepting, and aborting themselves out of existence.


34 posted on 10/13/2006 12:39:01 PM PDT by Campion ("I am so tired of you, liberal church in America" -- Mother Angelica, 1993)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot

What is Sweden and Holland out of wed lock children birth rate?


35 posted on 10/13/2006 12:40:01 PM PDT by jveritas (Support The Commander in Chief in Times of War)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot

Maybe Dutch teens aren't all that attractive.


36 posted on 10/13/2006 12:40:56 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot

I must admit that this reflects what I have been saying for years: Take the mystery and the medical harshness out of the subject of sexuality, and clearly inform the young, AND make contraception easily and affordably available to EVERYONE. If, as a country, we can convince so many people to stop smoking, surely we can make it socially unacceptable (a)to get pregnant out of wedlock (b)to father a child out of wedlock (b)to get an abortion


37 posted on 10/13/2006 12:42:35 PM PDT by hardworking (Somday I'd like to vote for a candidate who's actually had to meet a payroll.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot

Teens are too stoned to have sex.


38 posted on 10/13/2006 12:42:46 PM PDT by OldFriend (Should we wait for them to come and kill us again? President Karzai 9/26/06)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dianna

Sadly, many people would opt for the latter, thinking it was more moral.


39 posted on 10/13/2006 12:43:10 PM PDT by linda_22003
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot
I wonder how the Dutch define "pregnancy."

I suspect that they have redefined the term to mean "implantation" instead of "fertilization" or "conception." (The abortion industry in America is currently doing the same thing here, with some success.) If that's true in the Netherlands, and sex education teachers promote that new definition, then women/girls will use the morning-after pill ASAP and any conception which has occurred will be destroyed prior to implantation. Hence, she can tell herself that she wasn't pregnant, and the national statistics will agree.

I don't agree with these redefinitions, but that does help explain how they reach their conclusions.

40 posted on 10/13/2006 12:45:39 PM PDT by Prov3456
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: hardworking
If, as a country, we can convince so many people to stop smoking, surely we can make it socially unacceptable (a)to get pregnant out of wedlock (b)to father a child out of wedlock (b)to get an abortion

Odd, it used to be socially unacceptable to do any of those things. Of course, it was also socially unacceptable to do the act which caused any of those things. Yes, it's true: we once disapproved of people sleeping around like rabbits in this country. What were we thinking?!?!

41 posted on 10/13/2006 12:45:42 PM PDT by Campion ("I am so tired of you, liberal church in America" -- Mother Angelica, 1993)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot

World's Lowest Teen Pregnancy Rate: How Do the Dutch Do It?

How do the adult pregnancy rates of the Dutch compare to the rest of the world?


42 posted on 10/13/2006 12:45:50 PM PDT by L98Fiero (Evil is an exact science)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot

Deep in the statistical spin, the dutch have lower pregnancy rates because "the Dutch have a higher average age at first intercourse" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_pregnancy


43 posted on 10/13/2006 12:46:41 PM PDT by Raycpa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Campion

Disapproving of it didn't stop it then, and we're not likely to be able to turn back time and make it "socially unacceptable" again.


44 posted on 10/13/2006 12:47:06 PM PDT by linda_22003
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: Campion

> Only true in those societies that are busy committing demographic suicide.

Sorry, no. Teenagers making the beast with two backs as often as possible has been the natural state of things ever since there have been teenagers. Without that drive... no babies at *all*.

> There will be no "Netherlands" and no "Sweden" in 150 years.

Won't be a lot of places in 150 years. There may well be a World Caliphate in 150 years, and the USA may be a part of it. With luck, though, the United States of The Inner Solar System will have Earth quarantined.


45 posted on 10/13/2006 12:48:40 PM PDT by orionblamblam (Prayers... give people the feeling they're doing something without making any real effort.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot
So, does this mean that excellent sex education ( without teaching abstinence) works to lower teen preganancy ?.

The article is silent on the number of abortions. I'd be very interested to know how the abortion rate has changed in comparison to the teen pregnancy rate.

Since the article lists abortion as one of the factors which has contributed to the decline of "teenage pregnancies", one can only assume that the author equates a teen who has had an abortion to one who was never pregnant.

Perhaps the author really meant "teenage mother live birth" when he/she wrote "teenage pregnancy".

46 posted on 10/13/2006 12:51:10 PM PDT by TChris (The United Nations is suffering from delusions of relevance.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: linda_22003
Disapproving of it didn't stop it then

If you don't think it stopped quite a lot of it, I suggest you check up on the statistics on teenage pregnancy and age of first intercourse, as recently as the late 1950's.

we're not likely to be able to turn back time and make it "socially unacceptable" again.

In other words, since sexual libertinism is damaging, the only cure is to promote and encourage sexual libertinism. The standard liberal bovine scatology: "our programs haven't worked, therefore we need more of them".

47 posted on 10/13/2006 12:51:22 PM PDT by Campion ("I am so tired of you, liberal church in America" -- Mother Angelica, 1993)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: Campion

"Only true in those societies that are busy committing demographic suicide."

Like the USA, for instance.
The white fertility rate in America is about 1.8
The black fertility rate is about 2.1.
Only the Hispanic fertility rate is above replacement, and most Hispanics are immigrants.

American fertility is below replacement, and American WHITE fertility is at European lows.

The European future is Arabic, if trend-line holds.
The American future is Latino.

America (as we know it), Holland, the rest of Europe (as we know it), Eastern and Western, and Japan...all on the same demographic death spiral.

The only difference among the groups is that Japanese have the most restrictive immigration, so their population decline is absolute. Ameriac has the most liberal immigration by far, so America APPEARS to be growing. But the ENTIRETY of the growth is Hispanic immigration, and Hispanic reproduction. American native white and black populations are both shrinking, not just in relatiive numbers, but with a below-replacement rate birth rate, will be shrinking in absolute numbers as well.

Birth control is the death of Western Civilization.
Abortion merely accelerates the process.


48 posted on 10/13/2006 12:53:01 PM PDT by Vicomte13 (The Crown is amused.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: Campion

I didn't say anything about "promoting" it. Why don't you just take over posting for me completely. :)


49 posted on 10/13/2006 12:53:22 PM PDT by linda_22003
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: Raycpa

A positive correlation, albeit weak, appears between a city's teen pregnancy rate and its average summer night temperature, especially in the Southern U.S. (Savageau, compiler, 1993-1995).'


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_pregnancy

Isn't the summer night temperature much lower in the Netherlands than in most of the US?

This statistic actually makes practical sense. Climate would explain why Africa's rates are much higher.


50 posted on 10/13/2006 12:53:22 PM PDT by Raycpa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-5051-100101-133 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson