Tuesday, June 17, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
The devil baby is crying so hard it shakes in my hands.
As its satanic blue eyes flash, it lets out a wail of misery, craving more of its mother's addiction of choice.
I've been holding it all of five minutes, and secretly, I'm ready to give it back.
But no.
"Do you want to take one home?" asks Vicki Herman, an administrative specialist at the Clark County School District.
Um, no thanks. I gingerly return it to her, knowing I am not ready for the responsibilities of parenting -- even if they are only simulated -- and wondering why so many Nevada teens feel they are.
The shaking baby in question is a plastic doll that was "born" drug-addicted, the latest marvel in the 18-month-old program Baby Think it Over, designed to shake teens to their senses.
It is one of several attempts, from the attorney general's pregnancy initiative down to local after-school programs, to dissuade Nevada's teens from gambling with their futures.
Some hope that graphically demonstrating the responsibilities of parenting will make an impression. Other programs work on boosting self-esteem and life options. Others offer financial incentives to stay in school. Others think we must attack the root causes -- alcoholism, parental neglect, low education rates.
For whatever source is crunching the numbers, Nevada nearly tops the charts on teen pregnancy.
The Centers for Disease Control and the Alan Guttmacher Institute's recent reports both ranked Nevada second in the nation in teen pregnancies for girls 15-19.
The Nevada State Health Division released figures last Thursday that showed a slight drop in pregnancies for 15-17-year-olds, but it still counted more than 2,900 teen pregnancies in Clark County alone.
Statistics aside, you need only stop by the bulging high school nurseries to get the point.
Glenna Gaudy, coordinator of the nursery program at Cimarron High School, has 17 babies competing for 10 spots this fall. "By the end of school year, we've had about 50 pregnancies," she says. "Even the girls who had babies would tell me, 'Jeez, you would not believe how many girls are pregnant!'"
The sense of urgency is not only philanthropic, but financial: Teenage mothers are expensive, from their high health care costs to their propensity to end up on welfare.
But the experts are stumped. No one knows why Nevada has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in the nation.
Sure, everyone has a theory, everyone has a plan, but nobody really has a clue.
"Teenagers are the only ones who know why," says Heidi Sakelarios, child and adolescent coordinator of the Nevada State Health Division. "The list (of contributing factors) can go on to eternity."
Part of the confusion is that there is no clear consensus on what works. Kids from one community have said access to condoms is part of the problem, others say it is the answer.
Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa's "Four-Year Plan of Action to Reduce Teen Pregnancy" sent 23 "community action teams" out over a year ago to look for answers.
So far, the action teams, four of which are Las Vegas-based, might be characterized by inaction, bogged down in "needs assessment" -- organizing volunteers, forming discussion groups, interrogating kids and analyzing existing programs.
But while they are listening to youth groups to hear what teens think would be solutions, others find the replies are not always helpful.
"I love him, I want to have his child," is what Life Line's executive director, Lynn Scales, hears from teens on the group's 24-hour hotline. "You're 15 -- right, love," she gently scoffs. "You just love those jeans."
Mark Baltazar of the Crisis Pregnancy Center, a nonprofit Christian organization, says that a lot of studies ask the kids directly for the reasons behind teenaged pregnancy. "But sometimes those answers are not the best answers," he says. "It's like going to a drug-addicted person and asking, 'What do you need?'"
Other programs have a litany of factors that they have found puts teens at high risk: smoking or drinking, having had a sexual experience, choice of friends, a sibling who has been pregnant and having been through juvenile court.
One study from Chicago's Ounce of Prevention program found that about 60 percent of girls who became pregnant report incidences of abuse as a child.
There is also the issue of "sexual predators" -- men who pursue teenage girls. Nevada and California teens who became pregnant reported that about three-quarters of the fathers were 20 years or older.
The school district's Health 8 Course Syllabus neatly itemizes why students may become involved in premarital sex: striving to keep a boyfriend or girlfriend interested; gaining attention; seeking love or approval; rebelling against parents; proving adulthood; and keeping up with friends.
Adriann Helton, 15, a sophomore at the Las Vegas Academy, has another interpretation. "Maybe it's all just stupidity," she says. "There's teenagers who think they're immune to everything."
Why Nevada?
Why should Nevada's teen-pregnancy rate be higher than any other state's?
There are several schools of thought, from the high rate of alcohol consumption to the transient nature of Las Vegas.
The conventional wisdom is teenagers moving here often come from troubled homes needing to make a fresh start, or may have trouble adjusting and are more vulnerable to engaging in sex.
Then, maybe spring fever is perpetually in the air -- according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the highest states besides Nevada are temperate California, Arizona, New Mexico and Hawaii, while the lowest are Iowa, Utah, New Hampshire and North Dakota.
Or maybe, Nevada's pulsating sex industry is to blame. Sure, teens nationwide watch hormone-rich programs such as "Married ... With Children." But to a Las Vegas teen, the all-American girl next door may be a showgirl, and even the phone book can provide cheap thrills.
Others suggest the fact that only 37 percent of students continuing on to higher education contributes to the problem.
"Current theory suggests that a nation's birthrate drops, not as a function of birth control, but as a function of the education of women," says Bill Epstein, a professor in social work at UNLV.
In her time at the Huntridge Teen Clinic, nurse practitioner Andra Fjone has seen only one or two college-bound girls who, to their dismay, discovered a positive test result. The promise of getting out from Mom and Dad's house and attending college in two months may be enough to put a damper on a prom night experimentation.
Non-academic goals can be equally motivational: Linda Leos, a ballet specialist with the Civic Ballet, points out that, in 15 years, she has never known one of her dedicated young dancers to become pregnant.
But perhaps there is a more urgent problem than higher education, as one out of 10 Las Vegas students doesn't even complete a lower education. Epstein believes the high drop-out rate has something to do with the high teen-pregnancy rate.
While about one out of three pregnant girls drop out of school, Gaudy wonders how many "were prone to dropping out to start with."
Fjone agrees, pointing out that the majority who end up at her doorstep and pregnant have already dropped out.
Others, especially in rural areas, find that some teens claim pure boredom is the culprit.
While Fjone points out that opening youth hangouts helped decrease teen pregnancy in the '40s, that may not be relevant in today's society.
Jashawnda Washington, who grew up in North Las Vegas and gave birth midway through college, remembers that every time an underage club did open, it was soon shut down due to gang violence.
Others feel there is a severe lack of parental supervision in Las Vegas. While across the country, the so-called "wild time" hours of 3-5 p.m. are when most sex occurs, that unsupervised time is extended around the clock in Las Vegas with parents working swing or graveyard shifts.
"So what's the answer?" demands Larry Gamell, director of community relations of the Community Health Centers of Southern Nevada. "I don't know. All I know is something must be done."
A call to action
There are no shortage of programs to choose from, including Nashville's optimistically named I Have a Future, Michigan's Sex Can Wait, Washington, D.C.'s Best Friends, and California's ENABL (Education Now and Babies Later).
Two homegrown programs developed by the Nevada State Health Division are APPLE (Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention and Leadership Enhancement) and BEAR (Boys Encouraging Adolescent Responsibility), which have set up seven support groups to address high-risk teens in the rural areas.
APPLE, a four-year-old program, has had about 100 girls sign a contract promising to stay in school and not get pregnant. While the group freely offers birth control, the secret to its success could be the $10 bribe to attend a bimonthly meeting.
Professor Epstein, who examined two similar programs, Project Redirection and New Chance, in his upcoming book, "Welfare in America: How Social Science Fails the Poor," concluded that few have demonstrated success.
Others say the programs that work must focus on teaching self-esteem and decision-making skills.
"Sex education as a plumbing lesson isn't as important as programs that instill values in the girls consistent with self-respect," says Jack Hoos, publisher of the newsletter Daughters.
"It's not just keeping them busy," agrees Debra Phillips of the Boys and Girls Club of Las Vegas. "They have to find a personal goal. That's the difference."
She adds that there have been few pregnancies among the 480 teens who participate in their Leadership in Training program, which includes two pregnancy prevention programs called "Life Choices" and "Smart Moves."
Others prescribe concrete illustrations, such as the Baby Think It Over program, which recently won the Excellence in Education award and was inducted into Clark County's Hall of Fame.
"We have parents asking us what class their kids need to take get in the baby program," says Dee Ladd, president of the Sunrise Children's Hospital Foundation. "One man who wanted to be a father wanted to be the first to take home a baby." Afterwards, she said, he told her, "It's going to be awhile until I am ready."
Gaudy points out that her nursery of crying babies and dirty diapers at Cimarron is also an effective deterrent for the students who visit as part of the child-care development curriculum. "A lot of kids can't stand it -- it's wonderful birth control," she jokes.
Too conservative?
While many look to the school district to spearhead a plan of attack, the district seems cautious on the issue.
School officials are often paralyzed by the mechanics of teaching a message without any moral meaning behind it.
"Maybe character education vs. values education is a way that we can find a middle ground," Baltazar says. "I don't know how many people would say teaching responsibility, honesty, integrity would be things they are opposed to."
Meanwhile, parental permission slips must be distributed and returned before treading into any sexual education discussion. Many seem loath to criticize, describing curriculum and goals in the most innocuous, least objectionable way possible.
Even programs like Baby Think it Over avoid openly admitting the agenda is to reduce teen pregnancy, but claim to be more concerned with "raising awareness of the repsonsiblity of parenting."
Some think a state leading in teen births would do more to address the issue, such as make contraceptives widely accessible.
"This state is too conservative -- we will never see birth contol in the schools," says Gaudy bluntly. "They would rather treat it retroactively than prevent it."
"One of my 16-year-old moms went to her mother for protection at 14," recalls Gaudy. "Her mom told her no. Guess what? She got pregnant. Then her little sister did, too."
Others disagree, claiming that teaching contraception information is encouraging.
"I think we're sending a mixed message," says Baltazar. "We're saying abstinence only is best, but we don't believe you can do it, so here's some contraception."
Meanwhile, as Sarah Brown, campaign director of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy remarks, "While the adults are arguing, the kids are getting pregnant."
And while the national campaign hopes to reduce the one million teen pregnancies by one-third by 2005, the conclusion of their first, March '97 report is far from encouraging.
Its title? "No Easy Answers."
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