Teen pregnancy prevention campaign shocked by striking numbers

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy held a briefing on “Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Teen Pregnancy.” Delegate Donna M. Christensen (United States Virgin Islands) said that although teen pregnancy rates have consistently gone down, too many young women are still getting pregnant, preventing them from reaching their full potential.

Sarah S. Brown, the Chief Executive Officer for the National Campaign said that huge progress was made against teen pregnancy in the 1990s, but the steady decline may have stagnated, and possibly reversed. Also, the numbers of teen pregnancies by race are very disproportionate. Brown said that 32 percent of Latina teens, 24 percent of African-American teens, and 21 percent of Native American teens are mothers by their 20th birthdays, while only 11 percent of their Caucasian peers become mothers. Alvaro Simmons, the Chief Operating Officer at Mary’s Center for Maternal and Child Care said that teen pregnancy must be put on the public health agenda and gain the status of the obesity epidemic in health issues.