AMARILLO, TEXAS -- Wednesday was Teen Pregnancy Awareness day across the nation. Pronews 7 set up a discussion forum to hear from both sides of the issue on the local level.

Representatives from the Texas Panhandle Family Planning and Health Centers and Worth the Wait both agreed to appear live on Pronews 7 at 5 earlier in the day, but late in the afternoon Worth the Wait decided to send a statement instead.

"Worth the Wait is an abstinence-until-marriage based program. We not only cover abstinence from sex, but also from drugs, alcohol, tobacco and violence. We talk to youth about the social, physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual and financial benefits derived from making positive and healthy life choices and avoiding risky behaviors. We are in 30 schools, 10 districts and 8 counties in the Texas Panhandle. We focus on making good choices, setting goals, education attainment and healthy relationship skills.

Worth the Wait wants to maintain our professional relationship with the Texas Panhandle Family Planning and Health Center. We are both dedicated to the Texas Panhandle youth and community and helping them make educated decisions about their futures. We may all have different views on certain topics; however, we are all here for a common purpose, which is the youth. Today is National Teen Prevention Pregnancy Day and both of our organizations are focused on this and the Texas Panhandle statistics. The statistics are showing improvement but are still high and need to continue to be our focus.

There are always two sides and we continue to see supporters of abstinence education, such as Bristol Palin today on Good Morning America and the newly-released movie 17 Again. There is also new information on various Web sites, such as AbstinenceWorks.com and doctors research, such as Dr. Stan Weed, like wise on comprehensive education such as Dr. Kirby and PlannedParenthood.com.

We continue our efforts to educate the youth and focus on Worth the Wait's mission and vision for our Texas Panhandle youth by keeping the standards and expectations high for the students. Thank you."

Amy Christie, Worth the Wait Executive Director.

View the entire live interview with Claudia Stravato from the Family Planning Center by clicking "watch video" in the bottom right corner.