One Memphis High School has 86 pregnant students!

Not that long ago, the Obama administration decided to set a lot of money aside for sex education (see Obama offers sex education to American teenagers). But apparently such a program is not going to be enough for some areas of the United States. Memphis felt forced to launch a teen pregnancy prevention program after statistics showed that Frayser High School had as many as 86 pregnant teen students, Fox news reports! The program is called "No Baby!" and is designed for both boys and girls. It sounds promising (insert sarcasm here) as the focus of the program is said to be teaching girls to "just say not to sex".

"Right now, these girls don't know how to say no, they're having sex when they don't want to, they just don't know how to say no, " local non-profit employee Deborah Hester Harrison said. We're all for saying no to sex when you don't want to do it. Indeed, encouraging boys and girls to look into themselves and decide when it is time for sex without pressure from peers or girlfriends or boyfriends sounds like a great idea. Perhaps, the courage to say no to sex you don't want lies in your upbringing and amount of self-confidence, both as a teen and beyond. But how many of these teenagers lost their virginity despite not really wanting to? Why the assumption that girls don't want to have sex?

Perhaps advice on practicing safe sex would be better. This is obviously about a lot more than pregnancy STDs can potentially be just as permanent, but a lot less pleasant, than a baby. After watching some of the episodes of MTV's "16 and pregnant" show, as well as its follow-up "Teen Mom", I am wondering if MTV is doing a better job at helping to prevent teenage pregnancies than the American government. What do you think? Is the teen pregnancy rate something that can be effectively fought by authorities? Or is it a change in culture that is the key?