Nashville, TN – This theater troupe is proudly rated "PG-13," and its aim is to attract the attention of Tennessee teenagers. The "PG-13 Players" is a teen peer education group that uses live performance and interactive question-and-answer sessions to help high school students talk about their concerns.

Topics range from pregnancy and drug and alcohol abuse, to body image and sexual identity. The troupe features actors from several high schools who write their own material, based on personal experiences and with guidance from Planned Parenthood staff members. Corbin Williams has been a troupe member for three years.

"It's teenagers writing the skits, and it's from their hearts going out to other teenagers - and they're communicating with them. So, it's on a different level than a parent-to-teen level."

Tennessee public schools teach abstinence-only sex education, and some schools won't allow the troupe to perform its material about birth control. Troupe member Jenee Spenser feels that's especially unfortunate. She sees the benefit of this type of peer education as an informal way to get valuable information to teens. The goal, she explains, is not to give out easy answers, but rather, to help kids sort through their feelings about a range of topics.

"In the back of everyone's mind, they're saying, 'Well, you know, I don't look like that,' or, 'I don't talk like that' - 'I don't dress like that,' or even, 'I don't walk like that.'"

And Williams points out that, while some associate Planned Parenthood's image with birth control and abortion, in fact, 98 percent of its services are focused on general physical and mental health. The "PG-13 Players'" new production, the first of the 2008 season, debuts at Nashville's Belcourt Theater on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.




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LANSING, Mich. -- The voices of expectant and parenting youths are being amplified by the first-ever Michigan Young Parent Advisory Council.

Diamond Weakley is among the 13 teens on the council, which is based in Saginaw. She said the group is reducing the stigma and isolation she's experienced as a young parent.

"A lot of families don't support youths having children before graduating. So it makes us feel better about becoming young parents and keeping our kids instead of listening to everybody about how hard parenting may be," Weakley said.

Council Facilitator Robert Clark, a case manager at Saginaw Intermediate School District, said one of their first projects was to raise awareness about the lack of spaces where parents can change a baby's diaper in women's and men's public restrooms.

"So their next objective is to let these companies know why it's important to have a baby changing station in their restaurant or facility," Clark said.

The program is supported by the Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health through funding from the National Institute for Reproductive Health. Council members are compensated for their time and efforts, including child care during meetings.

Clark said it's important to support and empower young parents as they work toward their goals, and to ensure they feel respected.

"And let them know it's OK to ask for help and they are heard when they do need anything," he said. "Because they are young parents, they feel like a lot of older adults talk down at them instead of talking with them on their level."

Teen mothers and fathers are at higher risk of dropping out of school and living in poverty, and have higher incidences of repeat births. Weakley agreed being a young parent is hard, but said her daughter is worth it.

"When I look at her and I see her smile, it just makes me want to live better," Weakley said. "Honestly, without my daughter, I don't think I would have graduated high school. I try to do everything that I want to see her do in her future so that she can say, 'Well, my mom did it, so I can do it.'"

Research shows when young parents are supported, they are better able to finish high school, pursue higher-level education and find employment.


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WHITESBURG, Ky. — Access to sex education is on the decline in rural areas, but one eastern Kentucky native aims to fill the knowledge gap with a traveling free sex education workshop called Sexy Sex Ed.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, in 2006, 71% of rural women were taught about birth control as an option to prevent pregnancy. That number shrunk to 48% by 2013. Tanya Turner, creator of the Sexy Sex Ed workshop said growing up in Bell County, she didn't receive any kind of instruction on sex or her own anatomy.

"I hope I'm not the only person teaching progressive, body-positive sex education in rural Appalachia, but all the stats show sex education in rural places is in on a huge decline,” Turner said.

What started out as a small project nearly a decade ago has grown into a year-round traveling workshop that has reached hundreds of youths across five Appalachian states. Recent grant funding will allow Turner to expand her traveling workshop series.

Turner said her workshops weave in elements of theater, visual art, and writing to explore safety, anatomy, and consent.

"There are a lot of myths that I have to do a lot of myth busting, around virginity and birth control, consent - a lot of consent issues I think come up,” she said.

She said many teens are desperate for information, and pointed out many feel they can't ask their parents or other trusted adults questions about sexuality.

"'Cause they're certainly not getting it in their public school systems and in their homes, and what they are having access to in large part is very fear-based, very shame-based and not helpful, and honestly pretty traumatizing - certainly can be, especially for queer folks and people who are already marginalized,” Turner said.

Research has shown that when sex education includes information about contraception, teens are less likely to become pregnant compared to those who receive abstinence-only or no sex education. According to federal data, Kentucky ranks among the top five states in the country for teens births.


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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Tennesseans can now get a clearer picture of teen pregnancies in the state.

The State Comptroller's office has released an interactive map that illustrates which counties have high teen birthrates.

John Dunn, a spokesman for the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury, explains the map shows the percentages of teen pregnancies per 1,000 girls ages 15 to 17.

"What our map shows is that there are 37 Tennessee counties, which is more than one-third of the counties in the state of Tennessee, that have a teen pregnancy rate which exceeds 19.5, and that means that those counties have to teach a Family Life Education Program in their high schools," he explains.

In Tennessee, counties with elevated teen pregnancy rates are required by law to offer Family Life Education in public schools.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, since 1991, Tennessee's overall pregnancy rate has dropped by at least 45 percent.

A recent report by the Offices of Research and Education Accountability said Tennessee school districts lack guidance on what they should be teaching young people about preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

State law says any sex education course must include presentations that encourage abstinence.

Dunn says the map is one way lawmakers can identify the steps being taken in their districts.

"The primary reason we put this information together is to provide lawmakers with information about their districts, so that they know whether or not education requirements like the Family Life Education program are being taught in their schools," he states.

According to the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth, the number of teen pregnancies among 15-to-17-year-olds is on the decrease. Last year, pregnancies in that age group totaled more than 1,900, but five years ago, there were more than 3,000.




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