Healthcare Prof:
Campaigns that aim to reduce the number of abortions by reducing unintended pregnancies must include “sending children a clear message about the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse,” Joseph Califano — chair and president with the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University — writes in a New York Times letter to the editor in response to a May 19 Times opinion piece by Atul Gawande — a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and staff writer for the New Yorker (Califano, New York Times, 5/25).
According to Gawande, reducing unintended pregnancies “requires getting specific about two subjects that are perilous in politics: sex and contraception.” He added that people need to know that “close” relationships between parents and their teenage children can reduce unintended pregnancies; that abortion “is mainly an adult problem”; that adults are often “not using contraception properly”; and that self-education on the issue is important (Kaiser Every day Women’s Well being Policy Report, 5/22).
Califano writes that although “Gawande rightly notes that parental engagement is key to reducing unintended pregnancy,” he “doesn’t mention a significant contributor to abortion: alcohol and drug abuse.” Based on Califano, “young teenagers or those in the 18-to-25 age group” — the population “in which abortions are concentrated” — who are “high on alcohol or other drugs like marijuana are likelier to have risky sex.” He adds, “Most unplanned teenage pregnancy occurs when one or each parties are high at the time of conception.” Califano concludes that campaigns that aim to reduce unintended pregnancies must include a “clear message” about the risks associated with alcohol consumption, drug use and unintended pregnancy (New York Times, 5/25).
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