Teens, not Moms



Thursday’s editorial applauds a new initiative to combat teen pregnancy in Horry County:

Over the past decade Horry County, and South Carolina as a whole, has managed to reduce its rate of teenage pregnancy, particularly among younger teens. In 1997, 44.1 out of every 1,000 teenage girls in Horry County became pregnant. By 2007, that rate had dropped to 37.5 out of 1,000.

The rate is still too high, however, and now a new effort has begun to reduce that number even further. Last year, the S.C. Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy received a federal grant of nearly $1.5 million per year for the next five years, which will allow the campaign to expand its efforts in Horry and Spartanburg counties, two counties whose teen birth rates are higher than both the state and national averages.

The group began its work in October and has been spending the last few months gathering updated data and putting together a deliberate, individualized strategy for combating teenage pregnancy in the county. In February, teens between the ages of 15 and 19 knocked on doors and surveyed their peers on their behaviors and awareness of pregnancy issues. The results will be shared May 17.

Showing a commitment to practicality and common sense, the campaign will focus on strategies that have been proven to work in reducing pregnancy rates. Abstinence will continue to be pushed as the only foolproof method of avoiding pregnancy, but the campaign’s leaders don’t plan to stop there. Pretending teens won’t have sex if we tell them not to is not the answer.

A 2009 survey found that 44 percent of S.C. ninth graders have had sex. By 12th grade that rises to 68 percent. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy estimates that nearly a third of young women in the United States became pregnant by age 20. In that reality it is important that kids are able to find accurate and trustworthy information rather than relying on rumor, movies and television for their education.

But while the S.C. group will focus on proven strategies, the campaign is displaying a wonderful commitment to finding innovative partnerships that can put those strategies to the best use and reach the most teens. For instance, Forrest Alton, the group’s CEO, said he is talking with Horry County’s Parks and Recreation Department, with the goal of giving employees some basic information and comfort level in speaking about sexuality.

It’s a sensible approach to providing teens more information when they want it and are ready to hear it. If a boy asks his coach about his developing body or a girl wants to talk with her summer camp counselor about her boyfriend, those authority figures should feel comfortable discussing the topics and be ready to provide good advice, instead of clamming up and looking embarrassed.

That sort of dedication to finding solutions throughout the county should serve the campaign well as it seeks to reduce the pregnancy rate. “The only unacceptable answer at this point is to do nothing,” Alton said.

Beyond good social and moral policy, preventing teen pregnancy can also be good fiscal policy. A report released this month by Tell Them SC, another group that seeks to end teenage pregnancy in the state, estimated that teen pregnancy costs the state $180 million per year, much of that associated with the negative consequences for the children of teen mothers.

Compared to the children of older mothers, those born to teen mothers pay less in taxes over their lifetimes and require more public health care dollars. They also do worse in school, are more likely to suffer abuse, and the daughters of teenage mothers are more likely to become teenage mothers themselves. Sons of teenage mothers are more likely to be incarcerated than sons of older mothers, creating another cost to the state.

One of the biggest benefits of the local campaign may simply be visibility. Teen pregnancy is often an issue we don’t like to discuss, with overtones of shame, pity and perhaps a feeling of, “I’m glad that’s not my daughter.” But in reality it touches all of us in the community, when we pay taxes, when we struggle to find well-educated workers and when we miss out on all that those teen mothers could be.

 

Read more:

The state Education Department's 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey

The Public Cost of Preventing Teen Pregnancy, 2006 national report

2009 report from Iowa on the tax benefits of preventing teen pregnancy

The Tell Them SC report on the cost of teen pregnancy in South Carolina

S.C. DHEC's Teen Pregnancy Data Book

DHEC map showing density of teen births in Horry County

 

 

The group began its work in October and has been spending the last few months gathering updated data and putting together a deliberate, individualized strategy for combating teenage pregnancy in the county. In February, teens between the ages of 15 and 19 knocked on doors and surveyed their peers on their behaviors and awareness of pregnancy issues. The results will be shared May 17.

Showing a commitment to practicality and common sense, the campaign will focus on strategies that have been proven to work in reducing pregnancy rates. Abstinence will continue to be pushed as the only foolproof method of avoiding pregnancy, but the campaign’s leaders don’t plan to stop there. Pretending teens won’t have sex if we tell them not to is not the answer.

A 2009 survey found that 44 percent of S.C. ninth graders have had sex. By 12th grade that rises to 68 percent. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy estimates that nearly a third of young women in the United States became pregnant by age 20. In that reality it is important that kids are able to find accurate and trustworthy information rather than relying on rumor, movies and television for their education.

But while the S.C. group will focus on proven strategies, the campaign is displaying a wonderful commitment to finding innovative partnerships that can put those strategies to the best use and reach the most teens. For instance, Forrest Alton, the group’s CEO, said he is talking with Horry County’s Parks and Recreation Department, with the goal of giving employees some basic information and comfort level in speaking about sexuality.

It’s a sensible approach to providing teens more information when they want it and are ready to hear it. If a boy asks his coach about his developing body or a girl wants to talk with her summer camp counselor about her boyfriend, those authority figures should feel comfortable discussing the topics and be ready to provide good advice, instead of clamming up and looking embarrassed.

That sort of dedication to finding solutions throughout the county should serve the campaign well as it seeks to reduce the pregnancy rate. “The only unacceptable answer at this point is to do nothing,” Alton said.

Beyond good social and moral policy, preventing teen pregnancy can also be good fiscal policy. A report released this month by Tell Them SC, another group that seeks to end teenage pregnancy in the state, estimated that teen pregnancy costs the state $180 million per year, much of that associated with the negative consequences for the children of teen mothers.

Compared to the children of older mothers, those born to teen mothers pay less in taxes over their lifetimes and require more public health care dollars. They also do worse in school, are more likely to suffer abuse, and the daughters of teenage mothers are more likely to become teenage mothers themselves. Sons of teenage mothers are more likely to be incarcerated than sons of older mothers, creating another cost to the state.

One of the biggest benefits of the local campaign may simply be visibility. Teen pregnancy is often an issue we don’t like to discuss, with overtones of shame, pity and perhaps a feeling of, “I’m glad that’s not my daughter.” But in reality it touches all of us in the community, when we pay taxes, when we struggle to find well-educated workers and when we miss out on all that those teen mothers could be.

 

Read more:

The state Education Department's 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey

The Public Cost of Preventing Teen Pregnancy, 2006 national report

2009 report from Iowa on the tax benefits of preventing teen pregnancy

The Tell Them SC report on the cost of teen pregnancy in South Carolina

S.C. DHEC's Teen Pregnancy Data Book

DHEC map showing density of teen births in Horry County