State, local teen pregnancy rates drop

The state’s teenage pregnancy rate reached a 30-year low during 2008, according to data released by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services last week. Teenage girls had 217 fewer pregnancies, with 58.6 out of every 1,000 teen girls ages 15 to 19 becoming pregnant last year.

“North Carolina has been smart to leverage investments from the General Assembly and the Centers for Disease Control to bring proven pregnancy prevention strategies to North Carolina,” Kay Phililps, executive director of the state’s Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign, said. “This new data shows that we are headed in the right direction, and that we must keep pressing forward so that more communities can benefit from these tools.”

Phillips said statewide implementation of evidence-based approaches to pregnancy prevention have contributed to the decrease.

The drop in teenage pregnancies wasn’t just a statewide trend as both Lenoir and Greene counties saw decreased rates in 2008.

Lenoir County, which had the third-highest teenage pregnancy rate during 2007, is currently ranked 25th in the state. The county’s rate fell from 101.9 in 2007 to 73.4 last year.

The Lenoir County Health Department offers young people confidential access to birth control methods.

“We make it very easy for people to get condoms; we have them at our registration area,” Lisa Daniels, LCHD public health nurse, said. “We try to make it very easy for people to come in and get them.”

Brenda Ham, the LCHD’s family planning program manager, said family planning services are offered to females who are thinking about becoming sexually active.

“We do educate them and teach abstinence, but it’s up to them,” she said. “They need to be the ones who decide when it’s the right time to have sex, we don’t need to make that decision.”

Ham said girls can receive birth control pills or shots free of charge. The LCHD also offers emergency contraception.

The Young Women’s Outreach Center, based in Kinston, has been working in the community prevention of teen pregnancy. Executive director Joyce Clark said although she has seen many success stories, there is still work to be done.

“We know that education is key,” she said. “Our main goal in Lenoir County is to reduce teen pregnancy by all means, through education and counseling support.”

Clark said state budget cuts have limited funding to the program, but she is pursuing monies to get the center running at full capacity.

“Most of our programs are run by grant funding and we’re working on that aspect now,” she said. “Right now, we don’t have enough funds or staff so it’s hard to go and get the word out.”

YWOC works with schools, churches and civic groups within the community to promote programs that teach teens about safe sex and abstinence. More than 3,000 teens were reached through YWOC from July 2007 through June 2008.

The center offers curriculum that helps improve self-esteem and open up dialogue between youth and parents.

“Parent participation is key,” Clark said. “We can’t do it without parent support.”

In conjunction with “Let’s Talk Month,” a statewide campaign that began in 1986 as an education and awareness effort. YWOC will host a Let’s Talk Quiz Bowl at Vernon Park Mall at 6 p.m.  Tuesday.

Clark said participants should call the center at 252-527-7844 ‎ to register. Teams must consist of at least one adult.

“We want to get teens talking to adults about important issues,” she said.

One reason Clark said Lenoir County continues too rank high in the state for teen pregnancy is the lack of services for area teens.

“We don’t have a lot of prevention services,” she said. “Those we do have are only limited.”

The Student Health Services portion of Greene County Health Care, located on the campus of Greene Central High School in Snow Hill, provides teen pregnancy prevention to both middle and high school students.

“We got into the classrooms and talk about abstinence and STD prevention,” Linda Waters, assistant coordinator for the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program, said.

Greene County’s teen pregnancy rate fell from 75.4 to 69.6 from 2007 to 2008.

Helen Hill, the center’s director, said implementation of the both APPP and the Adolescent Parenting Program, which provides support to teen mothers, have proven outcomes.

“If these programs are implemented, they will show a reduction in teen pregnancy,” she said.

Hill said the curriculum urged students to practice abstinence, but doesn’t shy away from a comprehensive sexuality education.

Local school boards will be able to choose from evidence-based curricula that cover abstinence as well as comprehensive sexual health and relationship topics starting in the 2010-2011 school year. The passage of the Healthy Youth Act removes restrictions that limited the number of evidence-based curricula.

“Keeping these programs strong — and offering them in more communities — is crucial to maintaining a positive trend in our pregnancy rates,” Phillips said. “We must not let these programs get lost as state and local dollars get harder and harder to come by.”

Sarah Campbell can be reached at 252-559-1076 or scampbell@freedomenc.com.