Category: Articles

CONTACT:: Ellen Essick, CDC Cooperative Agreement Grants Manager
 Nakisha Floyd, Abstinence Education Consultant

GOAL

To provide age appropriate, medically accurate HIV/STD and teen pregnancy prevention
education to all school-age children with an emphasis on minority populations
whom are disproportional impacted, through a collaboration of the Department
of Public Instruction, local school systems, higher education, state and local
health departments, and community-based organizations.

TEEN PREGNANCY

North Carolina is consistently ranked ninth in the nation for teen pregnancy
rates and continue to hold steady, with 2007 state rates nearly the same as
those over the previous three years. The four-year plateau follows a 13-year
decline that resulted in the state’s lowest ever rates in 2003. The state’s
adolescent pregnancy rate has declined by 36% since 1992. The 2007 pregnancy
rate for teen’s ages 15 through 19 was 63.0/1,000, a 0.1% decrease from 2006.
The total number of NC teens aged 15 to 19 who were pregnant in 2007 was 20,019.
Nearly 29% of those were repeat pregnancies. The number of 10 to14 year-olds
who were pregnant in 2007 was 404.

Among minority populations, Hispanic teens
had the highest pregnancy rate, although their rate has dropped nearly 7%
since 2003. The 2007 pregnancy rate
among Hispanic adolescents in the state was 167.4/1,000 girls aged 15 to
19, a 5.7% decrease from 2006. Black teens had pregnancy rate of 87.1/1,000,
a
0.9% increase from 2006. The number of pregnancies among American Indian
teens and other minority groups was too low to calculate reliable rates. The
disparity
between white and minority teen pregnancy rates has narrowed since 1992,
when the minority teen pregnancy rate was two times higher than the white rate.
In 2007, the minority teen pregnancy rate was twice that of white teens.

Unplanned pregnancies during the teen years have long been associated
with a host of critical social issues, including poverty and overall child
well-being,
out-of-wedlock births, workforce readiness, and responsible fatherhood. After
increasing 24% between 1986 and 1991, the teen birth rate for girls aged 15-19
declined 35% between 1991 and 2005 (National Center for Health Statistics,
2005). During the same time period, official child poverty rates fell by 23
percent and percentage of children living with a single mother declined for
the first time in decades. The report also showed that the decrease in the
teen birth rate accounts for 26 percent of the reduction in the number of children
under age six living in poverty between 1995 and 2002. In fiscal year 2004,
teen pregnancy cost North Carolinians $312 million in WIC, Medicaid, TANF and
food stamps (Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy). Interrupting
this cycle of poverty and disadvantage is a critical social priority, and helping
young women and men avoid early pregnancy is easier and much more cost effective than dealing
with all of the problems that occur after their babies are born.

GUIDELINES FOR HIV/STD AND TEEN PREGNANCY PREVENTION

IN SCHOOLS

In North Carolina HIV, sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy prevention
education teaches that the expected standard for all school age children is
Abstinence Until Marriage. However, according to General Statute (G.S.) 115C-81
Basic Education and the North Carolina Healthful Living Standard Course of
Study, the effectiveness and failure rates of condoms and other birth control
methods must be taught in the seventh and eighth grades respectively.

Instruction
in the use of and/or demonstration of condoms is a part of a comprehensive
sexuality education program. Before a comprehensive sexuality education program
is adopted, the local board of education shall conduct a public hearing and
make all instructional materials available for review by parents or legal
guardians for at least 30 days before the public hearing and 30 days after
the hearing.

Each school year, before students may participate in any portion
of an HIV, sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy prevention education
program,
the
local boards of education shall adopt policies to provide opportunities either
for parents and legal guardians to consent or for parents and legal guardians
to withhold their consent
to the students’ participation in any or all of these programs.

RESOURCES

• NC Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative
• Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina (APPCNC)
• National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy