Feb. 23--Local health authorities credit sex education -- including abstinence education-- for a record low birth rate to teen mothers in California.
"The more education that kids have about themselves and their bodies, the better," said Christine Lyon, vice president of external affairs for Planned Parenthood Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties. "We also teach them to consider the emotional impact ... of having a pregnancy."
The California Department of Public Health released statistics Monday showing births to mothers ages 15 to 19 dropped to a record low of 35.2 per 1,000 in 2008. That's a decline from the rate of 37.1 births in 2007.
In Ventura County, the number of births to teen mothers dropped from 1,149 in 2007 to 1,090 in 2008. The birth rate went from 36.2 to 34.1 per 1,000 births to teen mothers.
"That's fabulous news," said Nancy Maxson, coordinator of health services for Ventura Unified School District. "We had not really seen that as clearly in our schools. Unfortunately, we are still seeing teenagers getting pregnant."
Latino teens continued to have the highest birth rate statewide and countywide.
According to the Ventura County Public Health department, 87 percent of teen births in Ventura County were to Latino teens compared with 11 percent to white teens. Black, Asian, and Native American teens represented 1 percent or less of all teen births.
Maxson said the problem has been discussed among school staff.
"At least with some of the newer families who have recently immigrated from another country, it's much more acceptable for older men to be with their daughters," Maxson said. "The thought is that they can take care of them."
Maxson said it's not just Latino families, but families in poverty who may be looking for more practical support through a larger family.
Maxson said Ventura Unified does offer Family Life Education in the fifth, seventh and ninth grades. The earlier grades learn how their bodies work and older kids learn about sex, the responsibilities and the consequences.
"In seventh grade, we talk about medically appropriate tools to prevent pregnancy, while stressing abstinence," Maxson said. "We talk about HIV and other STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) starting in the seventh grade."
Planned Parenthood also offers a peer advocates program in some of the schools, in which teen volunteers, with their parents' permission, talk to other teens about sex and pregnancy. It also offers a Teen Success Program, in which teen mothers and their babies meet once a week.
"Our goal in the program is to help them maintain their current family size, complete high school and seek or pursue further education," Lyon said.
"We provide child care and allow them to really come together and bond as a group."
California Department of Public Health spokesman Ken August estimates California saved $98 million dollars in medical and other social expenses because of the decline of births to teen mothers from 2007 to 2008. The number of births among teens fell from 53,393 in 2007 to 51,704 in 2008 in the state.
Nationwide, preventing teen pregnancies saves $9 billion a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC reports teen mothers have higher rates of pre-term births, lower-birth weight-infants, and a higher rate of infant death.
Compared to mothers who delay childbearing until the age of 20 to 21 years, teen mothers are more likely to drop out of high school, remain single parents, have chronic medical conditions, and rely more heavily on publicly provided healthcare, CDC officials said.
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