Parents, talk to your teenagers. Remind them that May is Teen Pregnancy Month, and use that as an opportunity to point out the life-altering consequences of unintended pregnancy.
It may not be the most comfortable conversation. Many parents imagine that teen pregnancy happens to somebody else”s children. But the fact is, mothers and fathers who talk to their sons and daughters are making great strides in reducing the number of teen pregnancies. Over the last decade, the teen pregnancy rate has dropped by 40 percent. That”s an impressive success story, but we are not done.
Fortunately, parents are not alone in these efforts. Our success in reducing unintended pregnancies has come from the combined efforts of a great coalition of parents, educators, advocates and health care professionals.
Many of the front-line leaders in this effort lend their talents and skills through the Planned Parenthood centers. Here on the North Coast, we”re fortunate to have centers at Six Rivers, Shasta Diablo and Golden Gate centers. These centers provide excellent reproductive care and comprehensive information to our teens.
When a teen gets pregnant, she creates a ripple effect of unintended consequences. Her education often suffers. Her family life is often strained, both emotionally and financially. She may lower her expectations in life. Her child is more likely than average to live in poverty.
And it does not end there. There is a larger social price and a shared economic price. A budget analysis by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy estimates that California taxpayers spend nearly $900 million a year on care and costs related to teen pregnancy. That”s nearly a billion dollars that we could be spending on education or healthcare, or anything else to make a better life for our young people.
Patty Berg
State Assembly
California District 1
Editor”s Note: The 1st Assembly District includes Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Lake, and Trinity Counties as well as parts of Sonoma County.
