fuckyeahsexeducation:

alittlecoconuttart:

[Article excerpt]

The U.S.’ Teen Birth Rate Continues To Plummet, But Remains Stubbornly Higher In The South

By Tara Culp-Ressler on May 23, 2013 at 12:00 pm

The CDC’s research builds on previous data that showed the United States’ teen pregnancy rate has plunged to record lows since 1991, largely because of adolescents’ expanded access to contraception. “Credit goes to teens themselves who are clearly making better decisions about sex, contraception, and their future,” Bill Albert, the chief program officer of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, told the Associated Press.

But those type of preventative health resources aren’t equally available to teens in every part of the country. Over the past decade, teen pregnancy rates have consistently been higher in Southern states that don’t provide students with adequate sexual health instruction. Since abstinence-only courses often present misleading information about contraception, a full 60 percent of young adults underestimate birth control’s effectiveness and are more likely to skip it because they don’t believe it will make a difference. And teens in rural areas still struggle to access contraception, partly because there are fewer health clinics in less populous places and partly because a societal stigma surrounding teen sexuality still pervades conservative communities.

Unfortunately, this correlation isn’t limited to teen pregnancy and teen births. Southern states that don’t offer comprehensive sex ed classes also have the highest rates of STDs.

 

Brought to you by someone who lives in one of the “less than 20% decline” which I can say with certainty is because we still only have abstinence only education, which I plan to change as soon as I finish training.

Birth control in sex ed classes passes Illinois Senate

bebinn:

SPRINGFIELD —- Illinois public schools that teach sex education will be required to provide information about birth control under a measure the Senate sent to Gov. Pat Quinn on Wednesday.

This would still allow schools to opt out of providing sex education entirely, but now schools that do teach it have to include methods of birth control, and can’t rely on abstinence-only courses. It’s a start!

(via fuckyeahsexeducation)

knowledgeequalsblackpower:

posttragicmulatto:

sodcalm-getangry:

jcoleknowsbest:

native-detroiter:

headturnmeon:

empressmo:

thetruestofsays:

Can anyone say bullshit

I knew this long time ago. Smh

Smh

but we’re just looking for racism!

Water is wet

also if the burner is on and you touch it, it will burn you. 

this just in, stores selling pre-sliced bread!

Alert! Alert! There are 7 days in a week. 

(via youarenotyou)

4,326 Americans have been killed with guns since the Newtown massacre.

inothernews:

• That’s more than 4,300 gun deaths in just over five months  Or, as the NRA would say, “Who cares?”

(via stfuconservatives)

brooklynmutt:

“Well this looks familiar: every lawmaker at the House hearing on the nationwide 20-week abortion ban is a man.” - @LEBassett

(via stfuconservatives)

stfuconservatives:

pilosopogyno:

This man, James Verone, robbed a bank for one dollar. Why only one dollar? Because he knew that in prison he could get the medical care he could not afford with his part time salary as a convenience store clerk. He was approved for food stamps, but they did little to help his finances. Between his back problems, carpel tunnel, and arthritis, he simply couldn’t handle the pain any longer.

On June 9th, he sent a letter to his local paper, the Gaston Gazette, that stated: “When you receive this a bank robbery will have been committed by me. this robbery is being committed by me for one dollar. I am of sound mind but not so much sound body.”

He then took a cab to the RBC Bank, and handed the teller a note asking for one dollar and medical attention. He quietly took a seat in the lobby and waited for police to arrive.

Since Verone only stole one dollar, he was only charged with larceny. His bail, which he doesn’t plan to pay is set at $2,000, reduced from the normal $100,000. He’s scheduled to see a doctor this Friday, and hopes to get foot surgery, back surgery and to have a protrusion on his check treated.   

To me, this is the perfect example of how disturbingly corrupt and unjust our health care system has become under HMO’s. For this man, or any person for that matter, feels that he needs to be imprisoned just to see a doctor, is ridiculous. 

This is exactly what I hate about America. Why is it that you can buy an entire house with money you don’t have, but still can’t apply for health care if you don’t meet the requirements? That’s messed up.

This is what sick people in America are resorting to. But BEST HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IN THE WORLD, right guys?

Judge Criticizes ‘High Error Rate’ of New York Police Stops

satanic2chainz:

Observing that only about 12 percent of police stops resulted in an arrest or summons, Judge Scheindlin, who is hearing the case without a jury, focused her remarks on Monday on the other 88 percent of stops, in which the police did not find evidence of criminality after a stop. She characterized that as “a high error rate” and remarked to a lawyer representing the city, “You reasonably suspect something and you’re wrong 90 percent of the time.”

“You reasonably suspect something and you’re wrong 90 percent of the time.”

“You reasonably suspect something and you’re wrong 90 percent of the time.”

“You reasonably suspect something and you’re wrong 90 percent of the time.”

(via wretchedoftheearth)

Teen Who Was Expelled From School For Science Explosion Receives Full Scholarship U.S. Space Academy

ikenbot:

thescienceofreality:

“Kiera Wilmot made an honest mistake, but the police were trying to throw away her life with a felony.  After the community stood up for the girl, the charges were dropped, and she was allowed to move on with her life.   Well, her greatness is really starting to shine, as she was recently granted several extraordinary opportunities through scholarship offers she has received.

Dr. Christopher Emdin, a professor of education at Columbia University, says that the schools are now very similar to prisons in terms of how they are structured, and how the inhabitants are treated.   Kiera overcame her situation, but there are thousands of kids across the country who aren’t so lucky.  Maybe it’s time to attack the system that is attacking us.

Check this out from Gawker: 

“Kiera Wilmot, the 16-year-old honor student expelled from her high school after she allegedly ignited a chemical explosion on school property, received a full scholarship to the U.S. Space Academy, courtesy of a NASA veteran who, as a teenager, was accused of starting a forest fire during a science experiment.”

The lessons here are simple:  Black kids have potential, and we can’t allow this system to destroy them.  Also, hard work always pays off, especially when it comes to education.  Dr. Boyce Watkins and Minister Louis Farrakhan recently held a forum called “Wealth, Education, Family and Community:  A New Paradigm for Black America.”  In the forum, Dr. Watkins and Min. Farrakhan both agree that African Americans are going to have to think differently when it comes to deciding what it means for your kids to be educated.”

Read more…

Just when I feel like all hope is lost :) may she grow up to become another awesome woc scientist, we need more of those too.

(via wretchedoftheearth)