IncreaSe in teen momS Due to robot babieS
PERTH: Robot babies, used as tool in sex education classes, in a ploy to avoid teenage pregnancy has failed, shows a study published in Lancet. Conducted by the Telethon Kids Institute, the study found that rather than reduce pregnancy rates among teenagers, it actually increased the occurrence of pregnancies. Nearly 3000 West Australian school girls aged 13-15 years from 57 public and independent schools took part in the trial between 2003 and 2006 to assess the Virtual Infant Parenting (VIP) program, which was very popular among schools throughout Australia at the time and is still widely used overseas. The robot babies, or infant simulators, reflected the behaviour of six-week-old babies including sustained crying. Researchers, who tracked the girls until they turned 20, found that girls who did the VIP program with the robot babies, had a 17% rate of pregnancy, which compares to 11% for girls who received standard health education. The study also found there were fewer abortions by teenagers who took part in the VIP program — 53.8% of pregnancies in the intervention group ended in terminations, compared to 60.1% in the other group.