A Fox News article reports on a unique, state-funded program designed to lower teen pregnancy rates.  The program, called “College Bound Sisters,” was implemented by the University of North Carolina and is for girls ages 12-18 who have an older sister who was a teen mom.  College Bound Sisters attempts to discourage its members from getting pregnant while encouraging them to attend college.  The girls are paid $1 a day to not get pregnant.  The money is deposited into an interest-bearing account and the girls can collect the money once they have enrolled in college, as long as they have not become pregnant.

Supporters of this program contend that it is successful at preventing teen pregnancies and is far less expensive than the “cost” incurred when a teenage girl becomes pregnant.  Critics, however, have a few points that should be considered before giving support to programs such as these.  First of all, the program may inadvertently encourage teen abortions.  Since a member may have thousands of dollars saved up, if she became pregnant she would have an incentive to hide and end her pregnancy.  It does not appear that the organization has a way of knowing if girls become pregnant and have abortions in private.  Thus, instead of decreasing teen pregnancy rates, it is possible that the program may be increasing teen abortion rates.

Second, there is the issue of paying people to do the right thing.  The program may set up a dangerous precedent of requiring incentives for ordinary virtues.  What happens when they no longer get a dollar?  Some critics also say that the program could send a bad message to parents that the only way to teach children about morals and get them to behave is to incentivize such behavior with monetary rewards.  In the Fox News article, Bill Albert, chief program officer at the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy made the following remark:

"It's hard to pay people to do something that we think they should be doing regardless. It would be like if you didn't want young people to experiment with marijuana, you'd pay them not to do it." 

Perhaps if communities raised up good role models for young teenagers and parents talked to their children about the consequences of their behavior, there would not even be a need for government programs intended to reduce teen pregnancy.