Saturday, January 23, 1999
Kentucky has TV message for teens: Don't have sex
BY ANDREA TORTORA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
If you are a teen in Northern Kentucky and you watch MTV, ESPN or the USA Network, you are going to see messages about not having sex.
The idea is to teach teens to get a life before they accidentally create one.
It's part of the state's new $500,000 media campaign to lower teen birth rates. With 38.5 births for every 1,000 women ages 15 to 17, the state has the 17th highest teen birth rate in the nation.
Numbers for Northern Kentucky counties aren't much better.
In Boone County, the birth rate for 15 to 17 year olds was 20.6 per 1,000. But Campbell County's birth rate for the same age group is 33.4; Kenton County's rate is 34.7.
The ads depict teens facing the harsh reality of pregnancy. A pregnant teen gets criticized at her prom. A teen mom holds down a job as a short-order cook. Teen boys realize they've contracted a sexually transmitted disease.
The message is a simple one: “Get a life first. Wait to
have sex.”
The timing is good, too. Mondaybegins National School Health Awareness Week.
“We all know the serious impact of teen pregnancy: Less education, increased health risks and less opportunity for success in life,” said Viola Miller, secretary for the Cabinet for Families and Children. “These ads are very direct in informing teens about the likely outcomes of having sex.”
Social service agencies and schools in Northern Kentucky are also working to get out the abstinence message through health classes and special education programs.
At the Brighton Center, teen parenting and youth leadership programs help educate children about the consequences of sex. For parenting teen moms, an emphasis is put on continuing education and practicing safe sex. For younger children, the abstinence message starts early, with the hope that more education will lead to bet ter choices, a spokeswoman said.
There is some good news. Since 1991, birth rates are declining in the nation and in Kentucky. For ages 15 to 19, the rate has dropped 10.7 percent in Kentucky and 12.4 percent nationally.
And the state's first ad campaign, aired in 1997, did have positive results. An evaluation of the campaign showed that more than 40 percent of teens aged 9 to 14 were exposed to the media messages.
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