Why We Have This Website:

Parents love their children, want what is best for them, and want to protect them from harm. 

It sounds simple, yet accomplishing those goals can be quite a challenge.  From the earliest moment as parents when we become aware we have a child, we change our behavior in terms of what we eat so as not to harm the baby during the pregnancy.  After the birth, we make sure our child sleeps on his or her back, we remove bumper pads from cribs, and keep diapers changed to prevent rashes. As they become more mobile, we "baby-proof" our homes. Once schools starts, we make sure they have everything they need to succeed, and we ensure that they get the best education possible.  When they begin to drive, we make sure they are safe and mature enough to handle that responsibility.  When it comes to sexual activity we want to make sure they are safe from sexually transmitted infections and avoid teen pregnancies.

In the 1960s and 1970s, two sexually transmitted infections and diseases, Syphilis and Gonorrhea were the main concern of a risky sexual lifestyle.  In those days, penicillin would take care of those infections.  In the 1980s and 1990s, parents became primarily concerned about the HIV/AIDS epidemic and sky rocketing teen pregnancy rates.

Now parents need to be concerned about 26 known sexually transmitted infections that can turn into incurable diseases that cause cancer, infertility, or death.  Some may think that promoting the use of a condom completely protects their children.  Though condoms provide some protection, they do not eliminate the risk completely.  This is a dangerous and unhealthy situation in the middle of a medically know teenage epidemic of sexually transmitted infections. A teen's possible exposure to sexually transmitted diseases is tremendous.

However, without a doubt, the safest and healthiest way to simultaneously eliminate the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection and a teenage pregnancy is by helping your child to recognize the value and necessity of living a chaste lifestyle in today's society.  The goal of this website is to equip you with the tools to assist in this area of parenting.

Who We Are:

Real Alternatives is nonprofit, tax-exempt, charitable corporation founded in 1996.  From its very beginning, Real Alternatives has been at the forefront of promoting a safe,  healthy, and responsible lifestyle for teens and young adults.  In light of the medically known epidemic of sexually transmitted infections and diseases in our teen and young adult population, combined with the known failure of contraceptives to prevent teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, Real Alternatives has consistently promoted and encourage living a chaste lifestyle as the healthiest lifestyle for single teens and young adults.

Though contraceptives have some success in lowering the risk of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, none of them prevent or eliminate the risk entirely. The repercussions of this failure can be devastating physically, mentally, and emotionally.   Real Alternatives encourages behavior modification (chaste lifestyle) as safer than behavior accommodation (contraceptives) for teens and young adults.

Our Experience:

Real Alternatives, as a part of its corporate activities, administers the Alternatives to Abortion Program for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania through a network of 120 agencies throughout the state made up of pregnancy centers, social service agencies, adoption agencies and maternity homes. These agencies offer counseling, referrals and material aid to women experiencing a crisis pregnancy as well as abstinence education. We have served over 150,000 women in the last 13 years.  We have seen, first hand, the negative effects of the poor lifestyle choices made by teens in Pennsylvania.  Approximately 25% of the clients we serve are teenagers.  Thankfully, not all the young women that enter our centers are pregnant.  In fact, approximately 67% of teens who request pregnancy tests at our centers find out that they are not pregnant.  Our counselors in these situations, teach abstinence and resistance skills to these young women so they do not have to experience a crisis pregnancy and return to our centers.

The Healthiest Choice:

Based on the serious dangers of today's sexually transmitted infection dangers, medical science and common sense have shown that the healthiest choice for teens and young adults is to live a chaste lifestyle by abstaining from sexual activity until marriage.

By informing teens and young adults of the dangers of a risky sexual lifestyle and encouraging resistance skills, parents can effectively lower or prevent the risk that their child will become involved in a teenage pregnancy and/or become infected with a sexually transmitted infection which can lead to disease.

Today's teens need our help more than ever!  They are bombarded with so many more dangerous, false and misleading messages from the present society than we ever were as young adults. Today's parents can help their teens by teaching and encouraging resistance skills in order to keep their children from the harm of today's world.  By promoting and continually encouraging resistance skills, parents can help their teen accomplish three healthy goals[3]: 

• First, delay initiation of intercourse;
• Second, reduce the number of partners they have if they are already sexually active; and
• Third, decrease the frequency of intercourse they have if they are already sexually active. 

Accomplishing anyone of these goals logically results in a reduction in the risks of  pregnancy, births, Sexually Transmitted Diseases and HIV.[4]  Science has shown that there is only one way for a parent to prevent their teen from becoming pregnant and from becoming infected with a sexually transmitted infection and disease....that is by promoting resistance skills learned in chastity education to our children.

Mission:

Concerned Parents Report is dedicated  to reporting information and imparting knowledge to parents so they can empower their children to make the healthiest choice for their reproductive health - living a chaste lifestyle.

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[1] “The United States currently spends just $1 to prevent sexually transmitted diseases for every $43 spent treating the 12 million cases diagnosed each year… teenagers suffer a staggering 3 million cases a year.   STDs are labeled  hidden epidemic, The Harrisburg Patriot, Nov. 20, 1996, A5.

[2] The failure rate of condoms for unmarried teenagers is 36.3%. Jones E. and Forest J. Contraceptive failure rate in the U.S.: estimates from the 1992 National Survey of Family Growth, 21 Fam Plann Perspect., May-June 1989,103. One-third of teenage pregnancies occur while a contraceptive is being used. Scwartz, Michael and James H.Ford, Family Planning Clinics: Cure or Disease of Teenage Pregnancy?, Lineacre Quarterly, May 1982,148. Fifty-eight percent of  women who got abortions in 1994-1995 were using a contraceptive when they go pregnant. Henshaw, Stanley K. and Kost. Kathryn, Abortion Patients in 1994-1995: Characteristics and Contraceptive Use, 28 Fam Plann Perspect.,1996,140-147,158. The Birth Control Pill, Norplant, IUD, diaphragm, cervical cap, sponge, Depo-Provera and spermicides do not protect against STDs.  Wills, Judith Levine, Preventing STDs: FDA Consumer, Publication No (FDA)94-1210, June 1993. Latex Condoms can reduce but not eliminate the risks of contracting STDs. Nestor,Lynn Paige, MSN, and O’Connell, Michelle Brott, BSN, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, .U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Public Health Service. Recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration tests designed to measure the leakage of viral particles through latex condoms reveal significant leakage of HIV sized particles under some conditions for one-third of the condoms tested. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, July -August, 1992,194, 230-234.

[3] Kirby, Douglas, Ph.D. et al, School Based Programs To Reduce Sexual Risk Behaviors:  A Review of Effectiveness,109, Public Health Reports, May-June 1994,339-360.

[4] Id.  at 359.