safe sex

There are 237 reasons to have sex — and having a child is number 27. That's what researchers from the University of Texas at Austin found. They surveyed 2,000 women and men about their motivations for having sex; this ample (though not exhaustive) list, published in the August issue of Archives of Sexual Behavior, is the result.

There is still time to make your voice heard and support Florida teens getting the information they need to make healthy decisions - including medically-accurate, age-appropriate, comprehensive sex education.TAKE ACTION NOW! to tell your legislators to support policies that provide our youth with the comprehensive sex education they need to protect themselves and make responsible choices.

After reading about the crisis Manatee County is facing in regards to teen pregnancy one thing was evident; the county's approach to abstinence only sexual education is failing miserably. Here are the sobering facts:

Manatee County has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the state.

Out of 67 counties, Manatee is the 17th highest; and, in births to teens 10 to 14 years of age, Manatee has the 13th highest rate.

In 2006, one-third of 2,196 ninth-graders surveyed admitted that they had sexual intercourse. This was a 3 percent increase over the 2004 results.