In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, there was recent news that the teen pregnancy rate dropped to a low that was lower than in had been in nearly thirty years. A lot of the credit for this is being given to a peer counseling program that was put in place with the sense that teen girls are going to be more likely to be open to hearing what their peers have to say because it’s a bit less awkward to hear it from girls their own age and a little bit older than from their parents.

The peer educators at Pearls for Teen Girls (a program that is funded by the United Way) head out to middle schools and high schools and at YMCAs in the area. The program is based on talking about both staying healthy and making choices about birth control and about abstinence.

In this setting, the gist is that honest discussion and a lack of judgment are the key to communicating. Mix in new media campaigns, open discussions and even role playing and the result is that teens are finding that teen pregnancy myths are just that - myths - and that they do have the power to say no to sexual pressure and to keep themselves safe if they do choose to have sex.

Peer educators aren’t the only asset when it comes to reducing teen pregnancy; in part the success of this program is that it doesn’t focus only on abstinence and helps teens to make choices to use birth control. In other words, teaching teens that they have options and making them recognize that they are able to take advantage of those options is an equally important consideration.