Sexual Health Education and Family Planning: A Vital Component of the Healthy Start Program

The paper will describe the Healthy Start program as a comprehensive sex education program and implications for preventing subsequent adolescent pregnancies. The adolescent pregnancy rate in the United States is double the rate in England, France, and Canada and nine times the rate of the Netherlands and Japan (Kirby, 2007; Shimp & Smith, 2008). Each year in the United States, approximately 850,000 or 8% of adolescents between the ages of 15-19 become pregnant (Guttmacher Institute, 2006; Kirby, 2007; Realini, 2004). The cumulative proportion of adolescent women becoming pregnant increases each year, resulting in 30% of girls in the United States having a second child before their twentieth birthday (Kirby, 2007). Adolescent pregnancies result in consequences to the individual, infant, family, and society as a whole. Adolescent childbearing costs taxpayers about $7-15 billion per year (CDC, 2009; Kirby, 2007; Shimp & Smith, 2008). Adolescent mothers are less likely to complete school, go to college and are unemployed or underemployed (CDC, 2009; Kirby, 2007; Shimp & Smith, 2008). Adolescent mothers have higher rates of low birth weight infants (LBW), prematurity, and infant mortality (CDC, 2009; Kirby, 2007; Sloane et al., 2008). Children born to adolescent mothers are also at increased risk for abuse, neglect, lower cognitive development, less education, behavior problems, and likely to give birth themselves as adolescents (CDC, 2009; Kirby, 2007; Shimp & Smith, 2008). Adolescent pregnancies are usually unintended, occur outside of marriage and are more common among poor minority women (CDC, 2009; Finer & Henshaw, 2006; Kirby, 2007; Shimp & Smith, 2008). Unintended pregnancy is defined as a pregnancy mistimed or not wanted at the time of conception and is the result of lack of contraception or failure of contraception (CDC, 2009; Shimp & Smith, 2008). Although 80-90% of adolescents report using condoms the most recent time they had sex, most do not use contraceptives carefully and consistently (Kirby, 2007). Only 70% of adolescent women relying on oral contraceptives report taking the pill every day (Kirby, 2007). The educational prevention programs to reduce adolescent pregnancies usually take two forms: abstinence only and comprehensive sex education programs. Abstinence only programs focus on abstinence as the only sure way to avoid pregnancy, while comprehensive programs present abstinence as the most effective way to prevent pregnancy and contraceptives as an appropriate strategy for those who are sexually active (Kirby, 2007; Miller, 2007; Realini, 2004; Sanie, 2004; U.S. Department and Health and Human Services, 2001). Healthy Start, a government sponsored program in the state of Florida, offers comprehensive services to pregnant women, infants and children up to three years who are identified as at risk of poor birth, health and developmental outcomes (Healthy Start, 2005). Comprehensive sex education and family planning services are also offered as a part of the Healthy Start initiative to reduce unintended pregnancies. Family planning is defined as deciding the size and spacing of your family and choosing a birth control method that is best to prevent an