Sexual Health Expert Criticizes Pediatrics Group's New Teen Pregnancy Guidelines
by Mary Rettig and Jenni Parker
July 19, 2005
(AgapePress) - The founder and chairman of the Austin, Texas-based Medical Institute for Sexual Health says he's very disappointed with the American Academy of Pediatrics' updated policy on teen pregnancy. Medical Institute CEO Dr. Joe McIlhaney, M.D., feels the AAP is sidestepping the very serious consequences of teen sex. He says the report from the national pediatricians organization acknowledges that teen pregnancy is a problem, but then immediately starts talking about contraceptives.AAP officials "ignore the fact that when kids become sexually active, it really affects them emotionally," McIlhaney contends. "As a matter of fact," he says, "the biggest study ever done on that ... reported that sexually active girls are three times more likely to be depressed than girls who are still virgins; and boys are twice as likely to be depressed if they're sexually active than if they are still virgins."
Also, the Medical Institute spokesman notes, research has shown that among adolescent boys and girls, "both groups are much more likely to have attempted suicide if they've become sexually involved." Yet, the doctor says, the AAP ignores the psychological effects that sexual activity has on these developing young people, as if teen pregnancy were the only real problem to be addressed.
McIlhaney says the AAP's new guidelines also attempt to separate teen pregnancy from the risk of sexually transmitted disease (STD). But he believes when one of these problems is addressed without taking the other into full consideration, once again another aspect of the health risks associated with teen sexual activity tends to get minimized or overlooked.
For instance, the sexual health expert points out, "We can stop pregnancy by giving every sexually active young person in this country a shot of Depo-Provera every three months. But the one program that has reported this in peer review literature ... in New York has never reported their sexually transmitted disease rates among the girls [who are receiving] these Depo-Provera shots."
The Medical Institute president says it is common knowledge in the health-care and medical research communities that 50 percent of sexually active teens are infected with Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), which is known to cause cervical cancer. Meanwhile, he notes, 10 percent of sexually active teens have chlamydia, and 20 percent have herpes.
McIlhaney says the American Academy of Pediatrics is ignoring the epidemic of STDs among adolescents by refusing to acknowledge that it exists. The Texas physician and CEO is a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist who gave up his private practice in 1992 to found the Medical Institute, a nonprofit organization that holds seminars and produces brochures and videos endorsing sexual abstinence.
In March 1999, McIlhaney and the Institute worked with then-Gov. George W. Bush's administration to present the Right Choices for Youth Conference, an event emphasizing abstinence, drug prevention, and personal responsibility as among the best strategies to promote teen sexual health.
