A Plan that Worked

In the 1990’s, when I was teaching at Walton High School in the Bronx, during the height of the HIV epidemic; the Board of Education decided to institute a program that involved providing condoms at selected schools.  Maybe Walton was chosen  because it used to be an all-girls school and they did get pregnant.  I do know that to commemorate the event, Magic Johnson, who had just announced that he was HIV positive, decided to host an assembly at Walton.  The administration, students and the media were all there to publicize the event.  Some parents, in Staten Island and Queens objected strongly to the program but it went ahead anyway.

            Volunteer teachers (myself amongst them) were trained by the Board to teach about HIV and how to use condoms to prevent exposure to the disease.  We taught the lessons once a week during the third period in selected classrooms to either our own students or with another teacher present in his or her subject class. (We were warned not to mention the term pregnancy during the lessons.)  I mention this because I just read that the city has decided to reenter the fray by initiating a poster campaign at MTA bus and subway locales to educate students about the dangers and consequences of teenage pregnancy.

            Some viewers have stated that they find the ads demeaning and immoral and others have said it’s a very good idea.  I have no opinions one way or the other on the subject because I haven’t seen the ads yet or spoken to teenagers about them.  I just have one question?  Why now?  Statistics here and in the rest of the country don’t show an increase in teenage pregnancy but nearly 9 out of 10 teenage pregnancies in the city are unplanned.  The city spent over $400,000 to implement the program which includes a survey, a website, and video games to teach the dangers of an unplanned pregnancy.

            Planned Parenthood, on the other hand, denounced the campaign, saying it ignored the racial, economic and social factors that contribute to teenage pregnancy and stigmatized teenage parents and their children.  Planned Parenthood originally helped to sponsor the condom distribution plan described above and, of course THEY were stigmatized at the time for even suggesting such a program.

            In today’s political climate, where the Arkansas legislature has passed a law to outlaw abortion up to the twelfth week of pregnancy, I’m not surprised that New York City has hired a public relations company to stigmatize teenagers.  Better trivialize the issue with emotional posters and video games than do what we actually did almost thirty years ago to prevent pregnancy in the first place.  And it worked!