| Summary: | The United States has the dubious distinction of having the highest adolescent pregnancy, abortion, and birth rates in the developed world. Every minute in America, another teenager becomes a mother, and 82% of the one million pregnancies experienced by American adolescents every year are unintended. Sex, Teens, and Public Schools explores the conditions that have led to escalating rates of teen pregnancy, illustrates the costs and consequences of this national epidemic, and most importantly, examines the role that public schools can play in stemming the tide of early and unwanted pregnancy. By speaking with students, pregnant and parenting teens, teachers, health care providers and policy experts, this documentary explores how efforts designed to prevent teen pregnancy can be translated into effective public policy. While the nations seem to have come to a conclusion that schools play an important role in the effort to combat teen pregnancy, defining that role is at the center of a heated debate. Sex, Teens, and Public Schools travels to embattled communities to illustrate the ideological debate over the proper role of sexuality education and school based health clinics in preventing teen pregnancy and childbearing. Given the enormous social cost of teen pregnancy, the volatile nature of the public debate, and this documentary s intimate portraits of teens at risk, Sex, Teens, and Public Schools makes a powerful and timely contribution to the public s understanding of this critical issue.
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