Let me tell ya' 'bout the birds and the bees . . .

Remember that old song -- "A Thing Called Love"? The opening verse was "Let me tell ya' 'bout the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees . . ."

I've come across some people who need some lessons about the birds and the bees! Yesterday's Dallas Morning News had an article about teen pregnancies in North Texas. The headline said, "Many reasons cited for teenage mothers." I don't think there are many reasons. I think there's one. They're having sex!

Jorge Castillo who has a 5-month-old child with his 15-year-old girlfriend says peer pressure is why she became pregnant. No, Jorge, you had sex, and that's why she became pregnant!

Arlington school superintendent Hector Montenegro says the teens are getting pregnant because their parents need counseling on how to talk to them. No, Mr. Montenegro, the teens are having sex, and that's why they're getting pregnant!

Sam Houston High School counselors say that the neighborhoods around their school are low income. Both parents work and have little time at home with their teens, and that's why they're becoming pregnant. No, the teens are getting pregnant because they're having sex!

Now this one I find laughable -- officials in the parenthood education program say the reason teens are getting pregnant is because there is very little public education available about how to prevent pregnancies. No, the teens are getting pregnant because they're having sex!

Jacke Bzostek, education director at Planned Parenthood said lack of funds and a government that favors abstinence over contraceptives is to blame for teens getting pregnant. No, Mr. or Ms. Bzostek, teens are getting pregnant because they're having sex!

Robert Rivera, Arlington City Council member, says teens are getting pregnant because the Catholic Church doesn't believe in contraceptives (never mind that they also don't believe in premarital sex!). No, Mr. Rivera, the teens are getting pregnant because they're having sex!

How do I know that none of these things causes pregnancy? Well, I was a teenager once, myself, and we had peer pressure, too, but I didn't get pregnant. My mother never really had a sex talk with me. She did one time give me a book I laughingly called "The Otter Book." It made a half-hearted attempt to explain sex using a family of otters. Other than that, I was pretty much on my own, but I didn't get pregnant. I came from a low income family, and both my parents worked, but I didn't get pregnant. There was absolutely no public school education on contraceptives when I was a teenager, but I didn't get pregnant. Government didn't mention sex at all when I was a teenager, but I didn't get pregnant. We weren't Catholic, and my church didn't talk about contraceptives, but I didn't get pregnant. Want to know why I didn't get pregnant? Because I didn't have sex!