Join South Carolina's first Virtual March in support of Responsible Reproductive Health Policies.

Over the past two months, we’ve been hearing from women across the state, giving their perspectives on how unintended pregnancies and the spreading epidemic of STIs are affecting life in South Carolina. These issues plague our state, and as long as we continue to ignore their root causes, we will be unable to change anything.

The statistics are astounding. More than 60% of high school seniors have had sexual intercourse.[1] 3 out of 10 young women will become pregnant at least once before they turn 20.[2] South Carolina has the 8^th highest AIDS case rate.[3] Young people ages 15-24 account for almost half of new STI cases in South Carolina. Births to teen mothers cost South Carolina taxpayers $156 million annually.

As the Tell Them website states, “As a community, we must acknowledge and address the fundamental issues that underlie these numbers. We can then work together to build capacity, on both local and statewide levels, to promote the healthy development of our young citizens.”

It is critical that South Carolina policymakers hear from us. They need to know where their constituents stand on the issues of unintended pregnancies and STIs. Without responsible public health polices, many of South Carolina’s “at-risk” populations – young women in our poorest and most rural counties- will not have access to medically accurate information and services.

Your representatives and senators need to hear from you. Join the Virtual March and Tell Them. Stand together with voters across the state and make a profound statement towards changing South Carolina.

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[1] Carol J Pardun, K. L. (2005). Linking Exposure to Outcomes: Early Adolescents’ Consumption of Sexual Content in Six Media. Mass Communications & Society , 75-91. http://teenmedia.unc.edu/pdf/Mass.pdf 

[2] Carol J Pardun, K. L. (2005). Linking Exposure to Outcomes: Early Adolescents’ Consumption of Sexual Content in Six Media. Mass Communications & Society , 75-91. http://teenmedia.unc.edu/pdf/Mass.pdf 

[3] Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2008, August). HIV/AIDS Among Women. Retrieved November 2009, from CDC Website: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/women/resources/factsheets/pdf/women.pdf

Tags: Columbia, Tameika Isaac Devine, TTWomen, Virtual March, Womens History Month

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 at 9:00 am and is filed under Tell Them. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.