Indybay
bar graph
Indybay Needs Your Help: Donate Now!
We need to raise $2,010 to continue operating.
All donations go directly to operating costs.
SF Bay Area Indymedia
indymedia
About Contact Subscribe Calendar Publish Print Donate

U.S. | Health, Housing, and Public Services | Immigrant Rights | Racial Justice | Womyn

Latina Girls' Magazine Talks Back to Palin
by NAM (reposted)
Monday Oct 20th, 2008 6:10 PM
Originally From New America Media

Monday, October 20, 2008 : Latinitas, the first digital magazine made for and by Hispanic girls, knows firsthand the effects of abstinence only sex-education: Latinas have the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the United States.
According the U.S. Census bureau, 53 percent of Hispanic teens get pregnant at least once before age 20, which is nearly twice the national average. Research also shows that 69 percent of those teenage moms end of up dropping out of high school.

This trend has plagued the Hispanic community for generations and the rates show no signs of going down.

Girls who contribute to Latinitas magazines are concerned about Vice Presidential-candidate Sarah Palins abstinence-only in sexual education voting stance, despite her own 17-year-old daughters pregnancy.

The abstinence policy that Palin supports didnt work in her own home, yet she expects people to believe that it will work for others, who have even more limited access to reproductive health services, said Latinitas editor Laura Donnelly.

Latinitas is responding to Palins broadcast comments stating, Explicit sex-education programs will not find my support, quoted from the Eagle Forum, a conservative pro-life web forum.

They need to teach us about [sex ed] because if we dont know about it, how can we prevent it (pregnancy), said Magna Ramos, a junior reporter for the magazine who participates in Latinitas after school programs in Austin.

Read More