REDUCING TEEN PREGNANCY SHOULD NOT BE OUR ONLY GOAL: WE NEED TO HAVE A HIGHER GOAL

http://sheconquerssa.co.za/pregnancy/

Reducing teen pregnancy should not be our only goal. We need to have more goals than that; we may have to reach different solutions about what to do about how to reduce teen pregnancy depending on what other goals we have. It is not a question of efficiency — that is only about means. We first need to agree about ends.

Any philosophical discussion on reducing teen pregnancy has got to concern itself with ends, not just with means. We've got to look not just about how we can prevent teen girls from getting pregnant before they're ready, but also about what it means to be a good person and how best we can guide them towards being that kind of person. Ben McLean

We need to ask ourselves the following

Is teen pregnancy the actual problem or the effects of an existing problem?

And do the same with sex

By discouraging both teen sex and pregnancy what do we want to achieve (the end in mind?)

If all our efforts are invested in the same goal or end results, we will work towards ensuring that all our interventions are means to that agreed end.  

It is clear that the interest in teen pregnancy prevention programmes is increasing, and we see many efforts, but my interest is more on the components and delivery mechanisms of these efforts whether they are designed for a successful intervention and if such components and means are successful, can they be extended to a higher goal?