LOS ANGELES -- Hoping to stem an increase in sexually transmitted diseases among teens and young adults,
Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke took part in a pro-abstinence rally in downtown
Los Angeles on Wednesday to urge youths to abstain from sex.
Highlighting a recently released study showing that teens between the ages of 15 and 19 have a higher rate of STDs than any other age group,
Burke called the problem an epidemic.
"We just can't be silent about what we're seeing," she said. "We have to encourage parents to talk to their children and tell them they face tremendous risks if involved with sex. ... (There's) nothing wrong today to say to young people to stay away (from sex)."
The morning rally outside the county Hall of Administration was intended to promote local participation in the national "Parents Speak Up" campaign, designed to encourage parents to initiate conversations with their children about abstinence.
Burke teamed up with actress and AIDS activist
Sheryl Lee Ralph, platinum-selling gospel duo Mary Mary, comedian
Michael Colyer and community groups La Familia Hispana and Sex, Love & Choices, which promote abstinence among Hispanic and black youth.
"We are not talking about it properly and in a way that is reaching our children because they are infected," Ralph said at the rally.
A recent study by the Public Health Institute Center for Research on Adolescent Health and Development concluded that the number of new STDs among California youth is greater than previously thought.
According to the study:
- half of all new HIV cases are black females 15 years of age or older;
- people between the ages of 15 and 19 have the highest rate of STDs among any other group;
- Hispanic teen pregnancy is 68 percent higher than the rate among non-Hispanic teens;
- two out of three teenage parents do not graduate.
Although abstinence was the message being promoted at the rally, James Bolden, press deputy for Burke, made it clear that abstinence was only part of the supervisor's message.
"She believes in abstinence ... but if you're going to have sex you better have protection," he said.
Miriam Gerace, director of communications for Planned Parenthood of Los Angeles, agreed that it's important to talk about abstinence as long as it is followed by information on safe sex.
"We approve of any effort that begins with abstinence and goes from there. But if you begin and end with abstinence you are putting young people's life in danger," she said.
