United Way Campaign Against Teen Pregnancy Revisited

Although I still think the first two bait and switch ads in this campaign "If you want a good time, call..." and "Under 18 and want extra cash, call..." missed the boat, at incredible cost, I do like some of the newer efforts. One is the website, www.onemilwaukee.org, because it puts reality in our face...this is a city issue. Teens have been telling us to get real for awhile now. They don't care about stats or data, they want someone who has "been there" to tell them what having sex does to their lives.
But a major component is still missing--how does their choice to be sexually active impact the lives of others. Therefore, a teen pregnancy campaign that only focuses on how a pregnancy can alter teen lives makes the baby an impediment. That is an unacceptable message. The poor baby did nothing to wreck a teen mom's life; she made the only choices. She also chose to give her baby a tough start in life, one that can doom that child's potential before s/he learns how to spell the word. When the baby is "the Problem", its disposal is the solution to the problem. If the causal sexual activity is "the Problem", then a different approach is warranted--abstinence education with its healthy dose of other-orientation.
I also am glad to see that statuatory rape is given a nod in some ads. Hopefully, this will take us to the point where the behavior of men preying on young girls is not acceptable and we return to the mandatory reporting of these illegal offenses.