Teen Pregnancy Help

The national campaign to prevent teen and unplanned pregnancies (NCPTUP) was originally founded as the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.  This article discusses teen pregnancy statistics and reviews the NCPTUP organization, their mission and works.

In 1996, the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy was founded with the sole purpose of lowering the number of teen pregnancies in the United States by a third by 2005, and it seemed that it had success. So as the project entered its second decade, it reassessed. Keep reading to find out how its mission changed in light of new evidence.

Although the number of teen pregnancies were being reduced, those working at The National Campaign, as they refer to themselves, were not satisfied with teen pregnancy statistics that indicated that:

• a third of teens have gotten pregnant by age 20,
• that the pregnancy rates in the United States top those of the set of fully industrialized nations, and
• half of the pregnancies in the nation were unplanned.

They considered that for teens, at least four fifths of teen pregnancies are unplanned and that unplanned pregnancies lead more women to face difficult decisions, such as whether or not to have an abortion. In light of these facts, The National Campaign expanded its mission, and while continuing to work towards preventing teen pregnancy, has added a commitment to aim at reducing the high percentage of unplanned pregnancies in the U.S. among adults under 30, which is the main demographic that faces this issue. Having made this change, the organization is now referred to as:

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unwanted Pregnancy.

What the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unwanted Pregnancy Does

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unwanted Pregnancy stands out for the non-ideological, research-based stance. They aim not to take sides but to find out what works and to spread information about what the facts are, as discovered by research.

The National Campaign’s website had almost 14 million visits between 2000 and 2007. On the site is information about the project, as well as research, state and national data, and specialized materials for a variety of audiences including parents, teens, males, policy makers, 20-Somethings, and Latinos, as well as focus on issues related to religion, foster care, and Federal funding. Special resources are available for parents, faith leaders, Latinos, foster parents at the online store. The site has won a number of awards.

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Preganancies (NCPTUP) distributed over 7.6 million materials from 1999 to 2007 and was cited in more than 6,000 newspapers in the same period, including USA Today, the Washington Post, and the New York Times. Having worked to develop partnerships with more than 100 media leaders through its Media Advisory Group, it now works with the major television broadcast networks to have prevention messages included in broadcast material. The Media Advisory Group includes representatives of broadcast television such as MTV Networks, Warner Horizon Television, Time Warner, Inc., Teen Nick, NBC Universal, and CBS Television, as well as the editor-in-chief of Seventeen Magazine and the chairman of Time, Inc. Its contributions to television and magazines have been seen by over 300 million viewers, and its public service announcements have won awards, too.

Publications of The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancies, which aims to act based on research and help others to do the same, include fact sheets and research publications. The free publications that The National Campaign has developed and has made available on its site are nearly impossible to find using their website navigation, but you can go directly to them here: http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/resources/fact-sheets.aspx Fact Sheets are directed at the specialized populations mentioned earlier, and also provided by topic, including abstinence, contraception, effective programs, teen birth rates, teen pregnancy rates, teen sexual behavior and activity, and unplanned pregnancy. The research-based information that The National Campaign makes a hallmark of their project is on a special “Science Says” page here: http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/resources/sciencesays.aspx Reports, which are longer than fact sheets, can be found here: http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/resources/reports.aspx

Sources

thenationalcampaign.org