Carol Law's List: Health and Teen Pregnancy

• Some teenage girls become pregnant while involved in long-term dating relationships. Other girls become pregnant after hooking up. And, some girls may become pregnant as a result of a rape situation.
• Facing an unplanned teen pregnancy can be hard. The effects of teenage pregnancy are not limited to having to decide whether or not to keep the baby, how to cope with motherhood or whether to make an adoption plan. One of the most immediate effects of teen pregnancy is how the growing baby changes a teenager's body as well as their lifestyle.

• Among girls who were in the program, which was conducted in 18 Seattle elementary schools during the 1980s, 38 percent became pregnant before they were 21, compared to 56 percent of those girls from the same schools who did not participate in the program.
• The birth rate differed as well: 23 percent among those young women under 21 who'd been in the program, versus 40 percent for girls who hadn't been in the program.
• Condom use was greater among this group as well, with 79 percent of single blacks who participated in the program reporting they used a condom during their most recent sexual encounter, versus only 36 percent of those blacks who did not participate in the program.
• "We never mentioned the 'S' word in the program," he adds.
• "The common thinking is that a girl drops out of school after she gets pregnant, but the truth is that half of teen mothers drop out of school before they get pregnant," he says.
• Children were taught how to use impulse control, how to avoid aggressive behavior, and how to recognize the feelings of others.

4 more annotations...

• To help them cope with and learn more about their pregnancy, in 2000 Miami Valley Hospital established the Teens Learning and Caring (TLC) program which combines regular prenatal visits with an opportunity to meet other teens with similar due dates and to talk about pregnancy, birth and parenting.
• Teens in the program range in age from 14- to 20-years-old, although the average age is 17. What sets TLC apart from other groups in the Dayton area that offer prenatal education is the prenatal visit — an actual exam by a midwife. Midwives examine the girls, measure their abdomens, and listen for the baby's heart tones.
• "About 100 girls a year are enrolled in TLC," says McQuiston. "And our success rates are very high. Only 10 or 12 girls who've been in our program have become pregnant a second time. 99.9 percent of them have said they are going to wait a long time before having another child. Our girls also tend to breast-feed more, smoke less, and have fewer premature births than other teenagers not enrolled in TLC."
• TLC is not about promoting teen pregnancy. "Our goal is to help these girls have healthy babies, learn to be good parents and value education so they can attain their goals," says McQuiston. "We want to empower these young women to make improvements in their lives not only for themselves but also for their babies."

2 more annotations...

• Mississippi has the nation's highest teen pregnancy rate, and Tennessee, especially Shelby County, is near the top of the list (Jan. 8 article, "Miss. teen-birth rate tops U.S.").
• Too often they end up unemployed or trapped in dead-end jobs, contributing to our region's high poverty and unemployment rates.
• Federal funding in recent years has gone disproportionately to programs that teach only abstinence -- which does nothing to protect teens who are already sexually active.
• The only way to successfully combat teen pregnancy is fact-based education about sexuality for adolescents that emphasizes responsible and safe behaviors, and improved access to affordable birth control for all.
• Parents don't like to think about it, but a lot of teenagers have sex.
• When will we wake up to the fact that abstinence education simply isn't working?

4 more annotations...

• •Nearly half (46%) of all 15-19-year-olds in the United States have had sex at least once
• •By age 15, only 13% of teens have ever had sex. However, by the time they reach age 19, seven in 10 teens have engaged in sexual intercourse.
• •Teens are waiting longer to have sex than they did in the past.
• •The majority of sexually experienced teens (74% of females and 82% of males) used contraceptives the first time they had sex
• •Nearly all sexually active females (98% in 2002) have used at least one method of birth control. The most common methods used are the condom (used at least once by 94%) and the pill (used at least once by 61%).
• •One in five teens whose parents do not know they obtain contraceptive services would continue to have sex but would either rely on withdrawal or not use any contraceptives if the law required that their parents be notified of their visit.
• •Although 15-24-year-olds represent only one-quarter of the sexually active population, they account for nearly half of all new STIs each year
• •Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections account for about half of STIs diagnosed among 15-24-year-olds each year. HPV is extremely common, often asymptomatic and generally harmless. However, certain types, if left undetected and untreated, can lead to cervical cancer
• •Seven percent of teen mothers receive late or no prenatal care. Babies born to teens are more likely to be low-birth-weight than are those born to women in their 20s and 30s
• •Teen mothers are now more likely than in the past to complete high school or obtain a GED, but they are still less likely than women who delay childbearing to go on to college.

8 more annotations...