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| App for sexually active teens being launched. |
The Bloomberg administration has launched an app intended to reduce teen pregnancy called “Teens in NYC Protection+” that provides a wealth of health data for kids who are — or are thinking about becoming — sexually active.
Information about everything from free clinics for HIV and STD testing to receiving condoms and emergency contraception is just a touch away on a smartphone.
The Health Department has yet to publicly announce the app. But the information has been available on the nyc.gov Web site, which has a special section dedicated to teens.
Parents who visit the site are in for a surprising lesson about state law.
“Teens in New York state have a legal right to get sexual-health services without the permission of parents, guardians, boyfriends, girlfriends, relatives or anyone else,” the site advises.
By comparison, a teen is not allowed to go on a school trip without parental consent.
There’s also promotional material by teens for teens, some barely out of junior high school.
“I’m not having sex now, but I know where to go when I’m ready,” announces Jessica, age 16.
“It felt good to talk about sex and get information without feeling embarrassed,” adds Lisa, age 14.
Officials say they’re unapologetically using every resource at their command to convince teens not to get pregnant — and that includes explicit sex and health education.
“While the percent of high-school teens who have had sex declined by 26 percent over the last 10 years, there are more than 19,000 teen pregnancies each year and most — 87 percent — are unintended,” the Health Department said.
Earlier this month, the city released posters warning of the pitfalls of teen parenthood, including a scary statistic that the children teens have are twice as likely not to graduate high school as those of more mature parents.
The app would be the fourth that the health agency has published.
Two of the three previous ones also had teen-relevant themes: NYC Teen and the Condom Locator, which debuted on Valentine’s Day in 2011 with the five nearest locations of free condoms. The third, ABC Eats, was aimed at grub, not love.
Greg Pfundstein, executive director of the conservative Chiaroscuro Foundation, argued that the city would be better off putting more emphasis on health and safety and abstinence — and less on sexuality — to convince kids that becoming a young parent isn't a good idea.
“It goes a good degree further than the sex curriculum in schools,” he said.
Pfundtsein also said that the teen pregnancy rate has been declining steadily nationwide and is likely to keep going in that direction no matter what the city does.
“You can implement any program on earth and two years later claim it’s a success,” he argued.
In 2010, 72.6 of every 1,000 girls aged 15 to 19 here got pregnant, compared to 98.8 in 2001.
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