Teenage Childbearing and Cultural Rationality: A Thesis in Search of Evidence

The author responds to Arline Geronimuss comments on his article on teen childbearing. Geronimus complains that this author has distorted her views and presented her theories in a misleading way. The author however disagrees with the plausibility of Geronimus arguments and the weight of her evidence supporting them. While the author previously questioned whether policymakers are on track when they target programs at lowering the rate of early childbearing barring the presentation of more supportive evidence Geronimus argument that policymakers should give less priority to reducing teenage childbearing is rash and unwarranted. He agrees that programs and policies should not be justified by rhetoric or sustained merely because they seem plausible but challenges Geronimus to develop a strong base of empirical evidence and not attempt to hold her theories or research findings above scrutiny and criticism.