Birth control for lesbian teens.An LGBT LGBT Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender health center may seem like an odd place to bestow federal money for preventing accidental pregnancies. But the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center Callen-Lorde Community Health Center is a primary care center located at 356 West 18th Street in New York, NY. The center is dedicated to providing queer-affirmative care to the city's LGBT population without regard to ability to pay. in downtown Manhattan is now receiving Title X funding for family planning family planning Use of measures designed to regulate the number and spacing of children within a family, largely to curb population growth and ensure each family’s access to limited resources. , says associate executive director David Vincent. The decision makes sense once you look at statistics collected over the years. A 2000 analysis of data from the 1987 Minnesota Adolescent Health Survey showed that 12% of lesbian and bisexual female students ages 12 to 19 had unwanted pregnancies compared to 6% of their straight counterparts. Another analysis of data from the 1995 Massachusetts Youth Risk Survey showed that over 33% of lesbian and bisexual female students had been pregnant, as opposed to 11% of straight counterparts; likewise, nearly 18% of gay and bisexual male students had gotten someone else pregnant, compared with 10% of their straight peers. Data like this "really proves the need for some type of pregnancy prevention intervention for these youngsters," says Vincent. The reason young lesbians are more likely to have an unwanted pregnancy is a mystery. Some researchers hypothesize hy·poth·e·size v. hy·poth·e·sized, hy·poth·e·siz·ing, hy·poth·e·siz·es v.tr. To assert as a hypothesis. v.intr. To form a hypothesis. that these pregnancies result from rape, or from experimenting with men before identifying as a lesbian, or from having sex with a man in hopes of appearing straight to peers, or because young homeless lesbians are sometimes forced into prostitution to survive. The family planning program will test adolescent girls for sexually transmitted diseases Sexually transmitted diseases Infections that are acquired and transmitted by sexual contact. Although virtually any infection may be transmitted during intimate contact, the term sexually transmitted disease is restricted to conditions that are largely and offer contraceptive options such as Depo-Provera, a prescription birth-control injection. Many lesbian and bisexual teens are not comfortable receiving these treatments at traditional clinics like Planned Parenthood Planned Parenthood A service mark used for an organization that provides family planning services. , says Vincent. It's worth noting that the federal government does not allow Title X funds to go to family planning clinics family planning clinic n → clínica de planificación familiar family planning clinic n → centre m de planning familial offering abortion as an option--yet Title X directly benefits at-risk LGBT youth. At least one aspect of federal funding is evolving. |
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