ABSTINENCE CAMPAIGN PLANNED; ADS WILL TARGET TEEN SEX.

Byline: Teresa Jimenez Daily News Staff Writer

The solution to teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases should be simple: Just don't have sex, Assemblyman George Runner said Wednesday in touting an $825,000 state-sponsored abstinence campaign.

The 1998-99 state budget will include money for a state Health Services Department media campaign, which will use billboards, advertisements and commercials to urge teens to say no to sex.

`` `Safe sex' doesn't always preclude pregnancy, and it also doesn't necessarily protect you from sexually transmitted diseases,'' said Runner, R-Lancaster. ``I'm glad that we can promote the only true safe sex, which is abstinence.''

Officials agree there's a statewide teen pregnancy problem. Every year, nearly 70,000 teen-age girls have babies; and in 1996, the last year for which statistics were available, 19,958 girls ages 15-19 gave birth in Los Angeles County.

An expanded media campaign will allow the abstinence message to compete with messages from TV, movies and other media outlets that show casual sex or promote safe sex, said Judy Belty, abstinence team coordinator for the Pregnancy Center.

``We go into the classroom and demystify the message of safe sex,'' said Judy Belty, abstinence team coordinator for the Santa Clarita Valley Pregnancy Center. ``We tell them how to say no, how to deal with the pressure.''

But others say the message won't be accepted by all teens - just as the ``Just say no'' drug campaign wasn't universally successful - so that information about birth control must be available.

``We need to give teens information on all options so they can make their own decisions,'' said Nancy Sasaki, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles. ``The information needs to be abstinence based, they have to know it's OK to say no. But it can't be just that. If they have all the facts in front of them, they'll make better decisions.''

At the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's second-largest, health clinics offer free birth control to low-income students with their parents' permission, said program director Michael Godfrey.

``Abstinence is the best policy, and we do try to encourage students to wait for a later time when they're more apt not to have difficulty with that behavior,'' Godfrey said. ``But youngsters do what youngsters do, with or without their parents' consent.''

But Belty said taking such a position gives teen-agers a way of avoiding the tough decision not to have sex.

``Abstinence-based programs say that you can abstain, but if you don't, here are your options,'' Belty said. ``That gives them a way out.''

Jill Linker, director of the Pregnancy Center on Walnut Street in Newhall, said the expanded media campaign likely will bring more visitors to the clinic.

Often, the girls visit the center, a quaint home in old Newhall, because they think they are pregnant and want to get free screening and advice, Linker said.

Center administrators give the girls information about abortion procedures, abortion risks and fetal development. Center funding comes from area churches and fund-raisers such as the Walk for Life.

``Sometimes they'll leave and we don't know what they'll choose,'' Linker said. ``We tell them to come back. We'll offer post-abortion counseling.''

For girls who do decide to have the babies, the center has maternity clothes, strollers and other baby gear. In some cases, girls can get free or discounted childbirth coaching classes, Linker said.

Funding for organizations such as the pregnancy center could be greater if the state would accept $7 million in federal money for abstinence programs, Runner said. The state has turned down the funding because it can be administered solely to programs that advocate abstinence only, Runner said.

``The Legislature is controlled by Democrats, who are influenced by Planned Parenthood,'' Runner said. ``(The Santa Clarita Valley Pregnancy Center) distributes an abstinence-only message. With federal funding, all that would do is expand their message. The fear is that it would be the only message. But the other messages do get out.''

Runner said, for example, that while the pregnancy center gives presentations to students, so do organizations that teach about birth control and safe sex.

But Sasaki said the federal money does not come with clear guidelines and could provide funding for programs that do not provide adequate education to youths. Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California lobbied against accepting the funding, she said.

``Some programs are doing late-night basketball to keep them busy at night and keep them from having sex,'' Sasaki said. ``Are they getting any real information? We don't think that provides them with information to make an educated choice.''

Sasaki added that there is no real evidence that the program has helped teens. On the other hand, she said, a New York City program where condoms are made available to teens has led to more condom use, but not necessarily increased sexual activity, she said.