Written by Kaitlyn Kirk / Communications@flnow.org

The need for real, comprehensive sex education in this country is urgent. Not just for young people, but for adults who continue to shape what information is allowed, restricted, or erased.

This is not just about anatomy or pregnancy prevention. It is about power, language, and safety. When young people do not have the words to describe what is happening to them, when they are not taught what consent actually looks like in practice, it leaves them more vulnerable to harm.

That is part of how rape culture continues. 

Teen pregnancy is often misrepresented in public conversation. It is frequently framed as a result of teenage peer relationships or “poor decisions” between similarly aged young people. The data tells a more serious story.

Research shows that adult men are responsible for a significant portion of teen pregnancies. One large study found that approximately 49 percent of births to teenage mothers were fathered by men age 20 or older. Other research has found that around two-thirds of babies born to teenage mothers have fathers who are adult men, often several years older than the teen mother.

But there is some good news: Teen pregnancy rates are down.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the teen birth rate in the United States has dropped by more than 70 percent since the early 1990s.

Some Republicans have been publicly arguing that the drop in teen pregnancy rates is a “problem”. This is not an isolated talking point. In recent years, conservative commentators and political figures have increasingly framed declining teen birth rates as part of a broader “fertility crisis,” sometimes arguing that fewer teen births contribute to population decline and should be reversed through policy changes.

Fewer teen pregnancies means fewer young people being pushed into parenthood before they are ready. It means more people finishing school, more economic stability, and more control over their own lives.