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.
I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.
World's Lowest Teen Pregnancy Rate: How Do the Dutch Do It?
Free heroin and needles?
They love that word "nonjudgmental"
So, how do they do it? Those wooden shoes.
Lots of drug use = reduced libido, lowered sperm counts, impotence = fewer pregnancies.
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.
Maybe they just don't like sex all that much?
Wooden condoms?
And much less "liberal" attitudes towards fornication.
Something to do with all the dikes, I suspect.
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?
Legal prostitution has nothing to do with it either.
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.
Yup.
"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.
I would not look to the Dutch for ANY answers.
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.
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