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Cecile Richards
President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America

“Today’s report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicating teen birthrates have risen significantly in 26 states reaffirms what we at Planned Parenthood see in our health centers firsthand: abstinence-only programs deny teenagers lifesaving, medically accurate information and do nothing to prevent unintended pregnancies.

“We have a preventable public health problem in this country — an estimated 750,000 American teens will become pregnant this year and nearly four million will contract a sexually transmitted infection.

“The failed policies of the Bush administration’s abstinence-only programs have wasted more than 1.5 billion federal and state tax dollars and left our country with the highest rate of teen pregnancy of all the most developed countries in the world. 

“We look forward to working with President-elect Obama and the 111th Congress to put the right foot forward and stop funding dangerous abstinence-only programs that deny young people information about how to prevent pregnancy, protect their health and make responsible decisions.”

Source

Planned Parenthood Federation of America

Contact

 

Published

May 14, 2014