3 Takeaways from Shocking Study on Planned Parenthood & Teen Pregnancy

This report is nothing short of stunning. According to the Christian Post, when Planned Parenthood clinics close up shop, teen pregnancies drop like a rock. Here’s what a recent Texas-based study found:

For decades, PPFA has publically maintained that it serves a key healthcare role for the American public by educating teens on “safe sex,” providing contraceptives, and reducing pregnancies. The breakthrough study titled “A Longitudinal Analysis of PPFA and Teen Pregnancy in the Texas Panhandle” refutes that claim. Found within a meta-analysis of Planned Parenthood, the report states that the teen pregnancy rate “reached its lowest point in recorded history two years after disaffiliation of the last two remaining facilities.”

The actual rate of decrease is ultimately over 45%. That is shocking. Read the whole thing (HT: YoungCons).

Three thoughts come to mind when reading this:

1) Unless you read teen pregnancy as a propitious development (and not an alarming one), this study does not reflect well on Planned Parenthood (PPFA). It appears to enfranchise a sexually profligate lifestyle that is conducted outside of moral and familial bounds. Speaking more directly, it seems to encourage young people to engage in sexual behavior when they wouldn’t otherwise. That, frankly speaking, is sick.

2) Christians are justified to the fullest extent in seeking the end of Planned Parenthood. There is no silver lining in this report for the organization, which exists as a serious counterpart to the sexual ethics of the Christian worldview. We should pray and advocate for the end of Planned Parenthood in our communities.

3) The church should invest significant resources in Crisis Pregnancy Centers, pro-life counseling, and like endeavors driven by a gospel perspective. If we seek with a white-hot passion the end of PPFA, we should also recognize that Christians have an opportunity to become the face of reproductive help in their communities. We shouldn’t simply cheer a vacuum; we should seek to fill it. This will mean sacrifice, service, and plunging into the darkness.