By Joe Hyde
Publisher
November 7, 2007 Ashley is a 22-year-old mother of a one-year-old baby boy. The baby’s name is Tyler. But like nearly 40 percent of the mothers in the Concho Valley, Ashley isn’t married. Today she has no contact with the father of her child. “We met at a nightclub on ladies night. I got drunk, let my guard down, and nine months later, this is where I’m at,” Ashley said. The father, who is in the military, was out partying. He got what he wanted. Ashley found out he was actually married when she tried to relay the news. “I found out they [the husband and wife] were swingers. Well, I got swung,” Ashley said.
It is a national trend, one that doesn’t seem to be abating, despite attempts at education, teaching abstinence, birth control, or even abortion. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, of the 1,626 live births in Tom Green County in 2003, 636, or 39.2 percent, were to unwed mothers. That is five percent over the State of Texas average of 34.2 percent. Eighty-four teenagers giving birth are included in that number, and 308 of the mothers, or 19 percent, had late or no prenatal care. The problem does not appear to be abating. The 2006-2007 school year saw 100 teenagers pregnant in San Angelo ISD schools, up from 65 the year prior. Five of the girls were in 7th and 8th grade!
Young unwed mothers are more likely than others to drop out of school, be on welfare, have additional out-of-wedlock children, and have mental and physical health problems. The children of unwed mothers are likely to repeat the cycle. These problems stress the health care and welfare systems of U.S. society. According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, Texas incurred nearly $1 billion in costs to the taxpayer for out-of-wedlock pregnancies in 2004.
What to do?
Finding a solution isn’t that easy because the whole issue of premarital sex is wrapped into conflicting moral, religious, and ultimately hardheaded ideological differences, even here in San Angelo. There are two methods of prevention, and if you listen to the rhetoric of the debate, they are mutually exclusive. The choice is either teaching abstinence versus providing access to birth control, up to or including using abortion as the failsafe birth control option.
In 1999, doctors and administrators at Shannon Hospital saw a need to address the growing number of teens who were delivering babies. Shannon, because of its non-profit status, sees many of the Medicaid and uninsured births in the region. Alcohol abuse and sexually transmitted diseases were also a growing concern, and all were connected to life decisions made by young people in the region. Through a grant from the Texas Department of Health, Shannon initiated an education program to attempt to curb the trend by teaching abstinence until marriage.
Right Choices for Youth (RCY), a secular , non-profit project operated by Shannon Health and Wellness, started teaching in San Angelo ISD schools in 2001. Today, RCY educators teach in 11 school districts in the Concho Valley. The program teaches middle school students why it is important to make healthy decisions like avoiding drugs, alcohol, smoking, violence, and especially sex. The abstinence program, called Worth the Wait, is meant to arm students with knowledge of the social, psychological, and health gains that can be realized by abstaining from sexual activity until marriage, and to give these children skills to remain abstinent.
After the state grant was exhausted, Shannon was awarded a second $2.4 million grant in 2003 to continue the program until 2006. Last year, the grant was renewed for $3 million, but will be disbursed over five years, instead of only three. In effect, this is a significant budget reduction.
With over $3 million spent on the program, its effectiveness in reducing teen pregnancies is inconclusive at best. Before the program started, the 1999-2000 school year, there were 110 pregnancies in SAISD schools. That number dropped to as low as 65 during the 2005-2006 school year, but spiked again last year to 100. The latter years of these statistics includes students in high school who were theoretically graduates of the RCY program when they were in middle school.
What we are seeing in San Angelo is also happening nationwide. Earlier this year, a Congressional study concluded that abstinence-only sex education does not keep teenagers from having sex. But Crystal Conner, spokesman for RCY, notes that the national studies are not rigorous enough to show any conclusive results either. “Some of these programs are a two-hour class, and afterwards the kids are instantly declared graduates of an abstinence-only program to be measured in the national study,” Conner said. She looks at the spike in pregnancies in the SAISD last year as evidence that RCY needs to be more involved in the 10th through 12th grades. “Right now, we are just in the middle schools [grades 7-9] teaching abstinence,” she said.
Conner is not convinced access to contraception in the schools is a good idea, either. “We don’t want to send a mixed message,” she said. She noted that a mixed message would be “don’t have sex, but if you do, use a condom.”
Perhaps the secular-only teaching method is the equivalent of using ineffective scare tactics: Sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, and other health and economic problems associated with bad choices. Some argue that without a common set of absolute moral values, and a collective community desire to teach moral values with a religious base, secular abstinence programs are watered down. Bishop of San Angelo Michael Pfeiffer noted, according to The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, that 39 percent of teens said their “morals, values, and/or religious beliefs” were the most important factors affecting their decision about whether to have sex. Yet he also highlights the fact that Biblical principles are confirmed by the physical consequences of poor moral decisions. “The social consequences alone should be a strong factor to motivate people to abstain from premarital sex,” Pfeiffer said. And the bishop disagrees that the San Angelo area does not share absolute values:
“From my experience the vast majority of people still believe in an absolute - they believe in God and they do recognize that we are dependent people. Hence, this is why we start with the moral dimension, that does not flow primary from the church but flows from the very word of God,” the bishop said.
Yet absolute moral values derived from any religious source cannot be reinforced in public schools without violating the U.S. Supreme Court’s interpretation of the First Amendment. What then do we do?
Contraception and Abortion
Providing unlimited, unfettered access to contraception is the other option. And, when contraception fails, there is always abortion. This is a large piece of the message expressed by Planned Parenthood. Their underlying message is to advocate respect for each individual’s right to make informed, independent decisions about sex, health, and family planning. That means they want all options available.
Behind Planned Parenthood’s three-paned bulletproof glass receptionist window at 2010 Pecos, just off Sherwood Way in San Angelo, workers and volunteers provide every kind of contraception imaginable, including foam, condoms and other non-prescription methods without parental consent. Prescription contraception requires parental consent. Planned Parenthood of West Texas, Inc’s (PPWT) four clinics in Odessa, Midland, Abilene, and San Angelo saw 13,000 patients in 2006, according to their Web site. The newest offering of Planned Parenthood’s birth control clinics is “emergency contraception,” commonly known as the “morning after pill” or “Plan B.” This is the abortion pill opposed by anti-abortion advocates that can be taken within approximately five days of sexual intercourse.
The organization is also offering an abstinence course aimed at 5th through 8th graders called Real Life. Real Talk 2007. An Abilene Reporter-News report in September lamented that only one pupil attended the session after Planned Parenthood instructors drove all the way from Odessa to teach the course in Abilene. But the organization is still pushing ahead with the program. Carla Holeva, spokesman for PPWT, told the Reporter-News that the workshop presents what she calls medically accurate sexual education for fifth- through eighth-grade students. In other words, the course stresses abstinence, but also includes content on contraception.
The Abstinence Clearinghouse (abstinence.net) noted that having Planned Parenthood teaching abstinence is akin to asking O.J. Simpson to teach anger management. They worry that this is a thinly veiled attempt to get in front of children to spread pro-contraception and pro-abortion ideology that sends mixed signals to teens.
The Local Abortion Debate
Planned parenthood wants to be considered the honest broker in the debate. The PPWT Web site screams in loud, bold print: “Beware of so-called ‘crisis pregnancy centers’ that are anti-abortion…they may perform the [pregnancy] test without medical supervision, not give you complete and correct information… Many of these so-called pregnancy centers will lie to you about the medical and emotional effects of your choice.”
One such center that perhaps Planned Parenthood is warning us about is The Pregnancy Help Center of the Concho Valley. It is a Christian-based ministry running on a shoestring budget of only $106,000 per year. The money is provided through donations from area churches and an annual banquet fundraiser. Sandra Franke is the executive director. The center’s purpose is to provide support to pregnant women and encourage them to not seek an abortion. They do it by providing free pregnancy testing and counseling. The center also provides post-abortion counseling for women who have regrets.
The center provides what they call “options counseling” with trained counselors. “We don’t use graphic language, but we do explain the abortion procedure, we discuss parenting should the women decide to keep the child, and also adoption,” Franke explained.
The center conducts between 65-75 pregnancy tests per month administered by a nurse. According to Franke, most of the women they see are aged 20- to 25-years-old and single. Those 15- to 19-years-old are the second largest age group.
Franke is also involved in teaching abstinence to her clients. “Many times when you mention abstinence, they’ll look at you like you are from Mars,” Franke said, lamenting about the downward spiral of moral understanding of young women. “There are no more positive role models. Many times it is the second or third generation of unwed mothers coming to see us. But every so often, the light will come on. They understand. They get it [that they don’t have to continue having sex].”
Franke and supporters of the center are concerned that if the center didn’t exist, more women would be coerced into having an abortion against their will, or out of ignorance of what Franke considers better options of adoption or keeping the child. Turning the feminism of Planned Parenthood on its head, Franke said, “we’re empowering women with courage to make their final decision [about whether to keep the baby or have an abortion] no matter what their age.”
“Many times we have found that the girl doesn’t want to have the abortion but their boyfriend or parents do. Do you know what ‘mom pressure’ is? It is really hard for teenagers to stand up to mom,” Franke said. Parents may pressure their child to have an abortion because they do not desire the family to endure the embarrassment that may upset their social standing in the community. “We have seen 15 to 20 Angelo State University or high school girls this year getting pressure to have an abortion,” Franke said.
And Franke is concerned that because abortion services are a revenue generator for PPWT, women visiting their clinic may not be receiving sincere advice that is best for the woman rather than what is best for PPWT’s bottom line. Franke says her center has an 87% success rate in persuading young mothers against the abortion option. “Planned Parenthood is upset with us because we are cutting into their income stream,” Franke said in response to the bold warning about her center on PPWT’s Web site.
Follow the money
At our request, Ashley called the San Angelo office of PPWT to inquire about their abortion service, as if she was pregnant again. “They told me that it’s price starts at $470. But I screwed up my dates, and they calculated that I was in my second trimester. The abortion would cost me $595 then,” Ashley said. “But the lady said that they had someone in training and if I go this weekend, I can get the $470 price,” she continued. “It was like they were trying to sell me a used car!” PPWT was contacted to comment on this, but the spokeman didn’t get back to us by press time.
If PPWT is trying to turn abortion into big business in west Texas, they are doing a terrible job of selling it. According to their year 2005 IRS Form 990, the Odessa-based Planned Parenthood of West Texas Abortion Services, the sub-organization that apparently derives all of its income from fees for performing abortions in a clinic in Odessa, grossed $499,573 in revenues (PPWT does not perform abortions in San Angelo. They are referred to the Odessa clinic). But after paying all of its expenses, it lost $53,162. The umbrella organization, Planned Parenthood of West Texas, Inc., that earns fees for birth control and other health services primarily for women, grossed $1.79 million and earned $40,856. Combined, both PPWT organizations lost $12,306 in 2005.
Peeling back more of the onion skin on both of the financial statements, however, we find that PPWT charged PPWT Abortion Services $34,162 for rent and an additional $200,389 for administrative fees, adding to the former’s total revenue. Without the abortion clinic, PPWT would be $234,551 more in the hole.
Where are the parents?
Crystal Conner said parents are the ultimate solution. But she sees a trend of parents being less involved in their children’s lives than ever before. RCY held focus groups with youth in 2004 to determine better ways to reach parents. “Most of the kids felt that their parents weren’t aware of the issues or pressures they have to deal with. And they wanted their parents to take a more active role in parenting,” she said. According to Conner, parents can make a difference by being firm and setting boundaries for their children’s behavior. “As a kid, it’s my job to test the boundaries, but my parents need to set them. Otherwise the sky is the limit,” she said.
Bishop Pfeiffer believes that an over-reliance on the science of birth control, as imperfect as it is, reflects an unwillingness to face problems of social control and social discipline. He believes abstinence needs to be promoted more widely and universally.
Conclusion
Ashley is employed, earning near the minimum wage. She is planning to get married, but not to the father of her baby. She wants to go to college, but she does not have the time right now. With two mouths to feed, she has all she can handle. And she acknowledges she has many more challenges ahead of her. Ashley was an honors student in high school.
In 1970, nationwide, only five percent of girls, aged 15, had sex before marriage. By 1990, the number rate had grown to 33.1 percent, and in 2003, the number was reported at 47 percent. Likewise the illegitimacy rate for all children born in Texas hovers around 35 percent, and in San Angelo it is 40 percent. All the while, PPWT generates nearly $500,000 per year performing abortions.
The growth of the number of unwanted pregnancies even in the modern age of birth control means Bishop Pfeiffer has a point about over-reliance upon birth control. But abstinence education doesn’t seem to be curbing the pregnancy rates in the SAISD either. Where do we go from here? Maybe we need to combine the efforts of continuing abstinence education and distribute condoms in the hallways of the high schools just in case. Or, we can open up the floodgates, forget any moral consequences, and provide easy access to abortion.
Two ingredients that appear to have a chance of positively impacting this problem are motivating parents to provide better discipline for their children (maybe we haven’t tried hard enough yet) and increasing the influences of the churches. Remember, 39 percent of teens cited religious, moral obligations as the reason they chose not to have sex.
RCY can gather and widely distribute data on the attitudes of youth towards premarital sex. Measuring only the incidences of pregnancies in SAISD does not paint the entire picture. It does not measure pregnancies terminated by abortion; information on the number of abortions performed yearly on San Angelo residents is not generally available. The anti-abortion Pregnancy Crisis Center increased its budget significantly last year and is seeing more clients, persuading girls not to seek an abortion. Could that have contributed to the spike in SAISD pregnancies last year?
And now, after learning more about the jungle out there, I think I will have a talk with my daughters. I am going to let them know that I love them and want the very best for them. And to reach that goal, we’re reaffirming the boundaries our family has set for them. Then we’re going to go to church.
After church, I am going to pre-flight my shotgun.
Ashley isn’t her real name, but was used to protect her privacy.
The problem with birth control is the similarity between it and an anorexia treatment. The more you try to convince someone that she needs a serious treatment, the more she will try avoid this issue and probably will continue with the same destructive behavior, but when it comes to children and pregnancy the church has also an important role and many other factors such as the education level.
Its articles like this that are the reason San Angelo is backward. The fact that there is no stigma against teen mothers is part of the sad truth that San Angelo supports teen pregnancy. Face the cultural difference between 1960 and 2008. Sex is viewed differently, it is unfortunatly viewed as casual instead of intimate alot of the time. Wondering why abstinence programs arent working is an obvious waste of time and money. Instead of condeming Planned parenthood and bashing them for supporting abortion maybe you should realize that they are saving futures for young women. If they werent there to supply condoms and birth control think of what San Angelo would look like. Maybe the solution is to stop sugar coating the sex education programs and instead implementing a program that shows the hard core facts of what a teens life will end up with when they have a child at a young age. Teenagers have minds of their own and will do what they want, teaching absitence is a great idea but if it doesnt get through, which it obviously doesnt, there has to be other options for these teens. The other options come from Planned Parenthood and the alternative sex education programs. Keeping San Angelo backward is not doing the majority any good.
I like many of the kids referred to in this page, got a girl pregnant when she was 15. Since that moment, we have gotten married, and have a total of 4 children now. Why did our relationship and family work to this point, I'm not exactly sure, but I would like to think that the root of our success started from parents.
If our parents would have given just a little more attention to us, and what we were doing at night and on the weekends, then the success of a girl getting pregnant at the age of 15 may not have been so successful. I say our parents because we did this together, but I have to give my parents credit, they tried really hard and I was the problem at that point in my life. I also have to give my parents some positive credit for teaching me moral values. A virtue that many men (young and old) are missing today. If a child is concieved from a man, then that man needs to own the responsiability, and take care of the child. But these values begin at home as a young boy, i.e. parental responsiability. Parental responsiability is needed in the lives of both young girls and young boys, and the fact that 7th and 8th grade kids (12 and 13 years old) or any kids still in school for that matter, is nothing more than a lack of parenting.
Remember back when? 1960? Abstinence worked back then because of the STIGMA of pregnancy outside of marriage and the lack of economic assistance available to unwed mothers. Current efforts to reduce teen pregnancy don't work because there are no longer any social costs (stigma) attached to the behavior and government has made it economically feasible through Medicaid, welfare, food stamps, WIC, etc. for irresponsible teens to actually parent their babies. Back in the 60's the choices were marriage (for the older ones), adoption through private agencies (remember homes for unwed mothers) in which the medical costs of pregnancy were paid for by adoptive parents, or keeping the baby and living with the mother's parents.
All of those 60's options were better for society, the teenage unwed mother, and most importantly the child. What we have accomplished today, mostly through government programs and the removal of the social stigma against unwed parenting, is to financially enable irresponsible girls to parent their out of wedlock babies resulting in increasing rates of child abuse and skyrocketing numbers of kids being removed from these irresponsible mothers at ages 3, 4, 5 and being placed in a poorly functioning foster care system. It has been a true public policy disaster the negative consequences of which are incalculable, both for the inviduals personally affected and society at large.
What is needed is for government to remove itself from the picture entirely which will restore the normal and necessary economic consequences and incentives for teenage girls to place their babies for adoption (or get married if feasible) rather than parenting these children themselves. Restoring the stigma attached to unwed teenage parenting will also help. For example, no more day care centers in high schools! Once one has chosen to have a baby and to parent that child then one has chosen to become an adult with all the responsibilities that entails and they no longer belong in public high schools. Local community colleges are the appropriate educational setting for these adult parents.
I think that Joe Hyde tells it as it is.
Way to go Joe
I myself was labled in school as "that's the pregant girl." I was 16, a sophmore in high school, lots of friends, and a future to look forward to...but things changed when i went and took a pregnancy test at PPWT and it was positive, they set me down and chatted with me, gave me some prenatal vitamins and sent me on my way. And there i was...what do i do now? My parent's were tight liped about things like teen sex, STD's, condoms and pregnancy it just wasnt talked about. When i finally got the courage to tell my mother i was already 3 months along. The sheer disappointment they had for me and my situation incouraged me to make good decitions for me and my child.
I am fortunate to have my child's father active in her life and my parents and family to help us and incourage me to be a better parent to my child. Now i'm the mother of a sophmore and 7th grader. I think i have been pretty sucessful so far. I don't believe in abortion, i think it is a womans choice to make on her own, child or not; because i have been there. I dont feel sorry for anyone who puts themselves in the situation, of having to make that kindof life altering decition. I talk to my children every night to help guide them to make right decitions. The line of communication to your children should never be hindered. Ultimately it is family communication and parental time and involvement that keeps kids from making wrong choices for their future.
This article contains an egregious inaccuracy regarding levonorgestrel, which is sold under the brand name Plan B: "The newest offering of Planned Parenthood’s birth control clinics is “emergency contraception,” commonly known as the “morning after pill” or “Plan B.” This is the abortion pill opposed by anti-abortion advocates that can be taken within approximately five days of sexual intercourse."
This medication prevents ovulation, without which pregnancy cannot occur. It does not have any effect on an implanted embryo, and therefore does not cause abortion. In smaller doses, levonorgestrel is used as a once-daily contraceptive pill. To be frank, I'm not certain this misinformation is not a deliberate attempt to dissuade persons from making use of this medication as an occasional back-up to other contraceptive methods.
The FDA has an information page about Plan B available online at: http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/planB/planBQandA20060824.htm
This site also links to Plan B's official website.
I think the title of this article is very inaccurate. This really doesn't have anything to do with being too young and pregnant, it is geared more towards being single and pregnant. There is a vast difference there. Getting pregnant at 21 is not the ideal situation, but it could have been a lot worse. I do agree that abstinence should be promoted more and taught more in the schools, but honestly even if "Ashley" had any kind of class in high school or was lectured by her parents everyday, what are the chances a 21 year old will still practice what was taught in high school? I think this is just common sense. There are presently so many ways that pregnancy can be prevented and there really is no excuse for a 21 year old to blame anyone but herself. I am 24, and if I happened to get pregnant then I would know that it was my own irresponsibility that got me into that situation and I would not blame anyone else. As the saying goes, it takes two to tango. Also, I don't think "Ashley's" situation is considered "swinging". A swinger is basically couples swapping partners. I would consider this either a short lived affair or a one night stand. Either way I don't think she was victimized the way this article implies and I honestly don't have sympathy for people who get themselves into situations like this. Maybe this will make girls/women realize that this CAN happen to them and they should practice safe sex and get on some sort of birth control if they don't want to be in a similar situation. And there are a lot of programs for single parents that could help her financially. Of course, I am not the kind of person who would sit back and wait for things to come to me or expect sympathy, so maybe I am out of line here. None the less, this is how I feel as a young adult who has seen many people end up in similar situations. I also think it would be interesting to poll single parents and group them by age/race/education/background and see what the percentages are for Tom Green County and surrounding areas.
I do wonder if the natural father of Ashley's baby has been contacted by the State Attorney General's office to pay child support and to provide health insurance. Naturally, a military member has both an income and the means which to provide for the health of this child. It does not matter if the father sees the child or not. That is his loss. The father is responsibie to support his child. The unspoken story here is not the unplanned pregnancy, but the generations of children who grow up without the positive influence of two parents concerned for the best interest of the child.
Mighty oaks from little acorns grow. The answers are as plain as day: legalized abortion and legalization of porn. As long as it's legal and splashed across the cover of every magazine on the grocery store rack, then more and more young people will think it's cool and alright. Yes, I DO feel sorry for girls who get pregnant and as a consequence have more difficulty in life. My own life was made more miserable because of an early pregnancy, so, yes, I do know. But legalized abortion was the beginning of the cheapening of life. Cases of child abuse and throwing newborns in trash dumpsters have undoubtedly increased since abortion became "okay." If babies are not sacred in the womb, then they are not sacred out of the womb. As for porn, it too cheapens life. It's ironic that the ad on the same page as your article would have been considered pornographic some decades ago. Think about it.
I think you should've included statistics based on race. I would've been good to seen the amount of babies being born to the race of the mothers!!
The key to this is parental involvement. If the parents aren't spending time with their kids teaching them morals and values, our kids aren't going to learn any different.
I think it's despicable that Planned Parenthood is bashing the Pregnancy Help Center. I'm so tired of Christian orgs being labeled as "bad" just because these places offer true CHOICES to women unlike the so-called "pro-choice" PPWT. There are other options than just get on birth control (that fails often) or have an abortion - there is also the option [choice] to NOT have sex in the first place. I'd like to see a more positive light put on abstinence, but I won't hold my breath.
Thank you for putting this issue into the minds of San Angelo.
There is no more STIGMA associated with unwed pregnancies. Hell! The kids in high school throw baby showers for one another! Get rid of day care for high school. If someone gets pregnant, they can finish their GED at a community college.
Congrats on one of the most biased "journalistic" viewpoints one can be held accountable for creating! One in which not all of the statistics were documented (pg.30 beginning "In 1970..."); something a college freshman cannot get away with doing. Giving women an option while already pregnant is a legal right many women have fought for throughout the years! This does not mean the choice is for every women but it is a choice! Your viewpoint on abortion is heard loud and clear. a neutral stand point needs to be heard both abstinence and birth control need to be explained and students need to be educated on both options. Yet,while mentioning the web site of PPWT you failed to acknowledge any of the other services and benefits the organization gives to both men and women!
PPWT's biggest impact to the region is its abortion mill. I read here it is worth $500k a year killing babies. What is that at $500 per? 1000 killings per year, 80-90 per month? 20-25 per week? They are so busy aborting what else can they possibly do? Never mind. Whatever good PPWT does is drowned out by this.
I have yet to understand why abstinence is not taught in the same vigorousness as teaching about alcohol. I went to a session presented by MADD about drinking alcohol to youth at our church. You would have thought you were the scum of the earth if you drank ANY alcohol. My question is why isn't premarital sex taught the same way.
I think the prep parenting class at Central is a good start. My niece is taking a prep parenting course at Central. She had the computerized baby for one weekend. I think they should also increase the length with permission from the parent of course. My sister, her mom, also, agreed the time should be lengthened to at least a week. They also need to be able to attend class, finish homework, etc... Also, I told my sister that the class should give them a pretend check of minimum wage 40 hour work week and try to buy food, clothes and baby necessities.
My sister herself is a single mom. She got pregnant at 19, but there is no one that I admire more. She graduated from ASU while holding a full-time job. She knew that she had to be a mother and father to her daughter. She says she never dated for that reason because she has to be both roles to her daughter and she didn't have time to develop a relationship. She has fun, but even when she moved here to San Angelo, she really never went to clubs just every once in awhile. She felt being a parent came first. It is where I think also single parents are missing the point. They decided to have a baby and then still want to be the young, hip teenagers. I think you gave up that right when you had a baby. Like my sister told her daughter, you have to think about the consequences of all of your actions because that decision could affect the next 18+ years of your life.
Finally, I believe I as a parent need to be involved in my children's life. My sister went to a parenting retreat at our church and they told her there is no such think as privacy when it comes to your children. You need to know what they are doing and who are their friends are. Remember, we are supposed to raise our children of how we want to seem them at 30, not right now.
"I have yet to understand why abstinence is not taught in the same vigorousness as teaching about alcohol. I went to a session presented by MADD about drinking alcohol to youth at our church. You would have thought you were the scum of the earth if you drank ANY alcohol. My question is why isn't premarital sex taught the same way."
And these MADD presentations sure do a great job of stopping teen drinking, don't they? I mean, teens NEVER drink alcohol any more, do they?
Very good that someone is FINALLY addressing this problem. Way to go SAN ANGELO LIVE!!!!
Something doesn't smell good. In the story:
Peeling back more of the onion skin on both of the financial statements, however, we find that PPWT charged PPWT Abortion Services $34,162 for rent and an additional $200,389 for administrative fees, adding to the former’s total revenue.
So, is the non-profit (PPWT) is stripping the profits from a for profit organization (Abortion Services) so they don't have to pay taxes?
PPWT and PPWT Abortion Services are both 501c3 non-profit orgs, and both file the IRS Form 990. I don't see any evasion.
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