RUNNER URGES TEENS TO SKIP SEX; ASSEMBLYMAN TOUTS EXTRA FUNDS TO BOLSTER ABSTINENCE PROGRAM.

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 increased funding for a state-sponsored abstinence campaign.

The 1998-99 state budget will provide a 50 percent increase of $825,000 for a state Health Services Department abstinence media campaign, which will use billboards, advertisements and commercials to ask 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, 19,958 teens from 15 to 19 gave birth in Los Angeles County.

Teen-age pregnancies number about 20 percent of the 5,000 births annually at Antelope Valley Hospital, officials there said. The state has identified the Lancaster ZIP code of 93534 as a ``hot spot'' for teen-age pregnancies, said Gary Cothran, hospital spokesman, and hospital officials are exploring the possibility of starting programs to help lower the incidence of teen-age births.

But there is disagreement on how to educate teen-agers to avoid pregnancies. Runner and administrators at the Santa Clarita Valley Pregnancy Center, where he announced the additional state funding, said teens should not be taught about birth control options. Instead, they should be told about the only solution - abstinence - for truly avoiding pregnancy and disease.

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

An expanded media campaign will bring respect to the abstinence campaign that teen-agers tend to give to other media outlets that show casual sex or promote safe sex, Belty said.

But others say kids will be kids. An abstinence campaign might reach a few, but as with the ``Just say no'' drug campaign, not all will listen, they say. And for those teens, 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.''

Los Angeles Unified School District health clinics offer free birth control to low-income students - with parent 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.''

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.''

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.''