This article courtesy of Lifesite News.
LONDON, January 7, 2002 (LSN.ca) – In a thoroughly documented letter published in the Jan 5 issue of the British Medical Journal, Dr. Trevor Stammers, argues that marriage is key to tackling the challenge of teenage pregnancy rampant in the UK. Professor Stammers, a tutor in General Practice at St. George's Hospital Medical School in London, quotes studies noting that “up to 80% of unintended pregnancies result from contraceptive failure” and follows up on suggestions that therefore increased access to contraceptives cannot be the solution to the problem.
Dr. Stammers notes the “established link between one parent families and teenage pregnancy” quoting a study revealing that “Young people aged 14-17 who live in a two parent family are less likely to have ever had sexual intercourse than young people living in any other family arrangement, even after adjusting for potentially confounding factors such as race, age, and socioeconomic deprivation.”
Professor Stammers writes that studies have shown “Cohabitations are four times more likely to break up than marriages and less than 4% of cohabitations last 10 years or more.” He thus concludes, “children born outside of marriage stand little chance in their teenage years of being in the optimal family structure associated with the lowest risk of unplanned pregnancy.”
See Professor Stammers' letter in the
British Medical Journal.
