A buck-a-day -- that's the incentive being offered to young girls to keep them from getting pregnant.On the surface, it's easy to assail the folks of College-Bound Sisters for what they're doing. Essentially, they are paying young girls cash money to do something they should probably have the personal desire and willpower to do on their own. Much like the (somewhat successful) act of paying kids to do well in school, you wonder what message is really being conveyed here. Are these girls being taught to value their goodies, or simply that $1/day is better than a sweaty five minutes in the of some random boy's Momma's basement? I honestly can't call it, and that's likely why God blessed me with two sons instead.
The group College-Bound Sisters was founded at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro by Hazel Brown, a maternity nurse who thought too many teens were having babies.
Girls in the program attend 90-minute meetings every week at which they receive lessons in abstinence and the use of contraceptives. Brown said she hopes the program, which pays $1 each day to 12-to-18-year-old girls, will keep them from getting pregnant. In addition to remaining pregnancy-free, the girls must also attend weekly meetings. The program is funded by a four-year grant from the state.
The nation's teen birth rate, after declining for 14 consecutive years, has increased over the last two years and now stands at 7.2 pregnancies per 1,000 teenage girls. Three out of 10 young women become pregnant by age 20, and costs associated with teen pregnancies exceed $9 billion annually.
"Our three goals are that they avoid pregnancy, graduate from high school and enroll in college," Brown said.
Under the program, $7 a week is deposited into an interest-bearing college fund that the girls can collect once they graduate high school. Some recent graduates earned more than $2,000 and are an inspiration to those still in the program.
"I might want to be a teacher for a few years and then be a lawyer," said 12-year-old Chelsey Davis. "I might want to be an actor or singer," another girl in the program, Amanda Davis, added.
Six girls of the 125 who have been enrolled for six months or longer have gotten pregnant or otherwise dropped out since it began in 1997. Funded by a grant from the state's Department of Health and Human Services, Brown said it costs about $75,000 a year to operate the program.
Program director Laurie Smith said those aspirations are more achievable because of the incentives the program provides and the friendships it helps create. Smith said nearly 100 percent of the girls who finish the program have gone on to graduate college. If a girl drops out or gets pregnant, her money is divided among the other girls still in the program.
On second thought, I give College-Bound Sisters credit for at least trying, and thinking outside the box. Many Conservatives are already decrying this as a proof that Obama wants control of your child's uterus, and will stop at nothing to impose his Socialist policies on her libido. I wouldn't go that far, but I do think this "pay kids for something they should do for free" thing is getting out of hand. We are already paying kids to simply attend school and show up on time. What's next? Paying kids to not smoke weed? This is getting outta control.
What do ya'll think?
Question: Is it unethical to pay young girls to keep their legs closed?
Program Pays Girls $1 Per Day To Not Get Pregnant [WXii12]
