State still struggles with teen pregnancies, but programs helping

Stacy J. Willis

Wednesday, May 24, 2000 | 11:26 a.m.

Shavanna Cousins knows something about sex.

At 10, she has information that state officials hope will keep her in school, increase her chances of getting a good job and better equip her to one day be a good mother.

"I've been taught the causes and effects of getting pregnant," Cousins, a student at Madison Elementary, said. "And I know that if you get pregnant early, you might have to drop out of school to take care of the baby."

Cousins said she learned about the consequences of teen pregnancy in a program coordinated by the Economic Development Board of Clark County -- one of many efforts to reduce teen pregnancy in Nevada, which has the nation's highest teen pregnancy rate.

State health officials say teen pregnancy prevention programs are having an effect.

The pregnancy rate among Nevada girls aged 15 to 17 decreased from 48 per 1,000 in 1998 to 46 per 1,000 in 1999, according to the numbers released last week by the Nevada State Health Division.

The state has a goal of lowering the rate to 35 per 1,000 for teens 15-17 by 2005.

However, Nevada's budget does not direct any state revenue toward teen pregnancy prevention, leaving community programs to rely on federal dollars and nonprofit grants, according to Heidi Sakelarios, Health Division spokesperson.

By comparison, California spent $9.8 million on a teen pregnancy prevention ad campaign in 1998, and another $2.8 million on programs to foster male responsibility.

And although Nevada's overall teen pregnancy rates decreased last year, the rate among Nevada's Hispanic teens increased by 3 percent -- to 127 pregnancies per 1,000 girls aged 15-17. The rate among all other ethnic groups decreased last year.

"There are probably several factors that contribute to the (higher rate among Hispanics)," said Maria Chairez, Clark County School District drop-out prevention director, who works with Hispanic youths.

"For one, religion. The preponderance of Roman Catholicism in the Hispanic community may contribute to it. The church doesn't support birth control. Especially for those who are not U.S.-born but immigrate, the teachings of the church are very influential," Chairez said. "The second thing is just value differences. In the Hispanic culture, there is a higher tolerance for it. That doesn't mean you support or encourage the idea of your daughter getting pregnant, but there's a greater stigma in other communities," Chairez said.

The Health Division is forming two new volunteer task forces -- one to address the Hispanic community, and another to address adolescent and adult men and their share of the responsibility for teenage pregnancy.

In April the Legislative Committee on Health Care heard testimony that three quarters of fathers of the babies of teen mothers are adult males.

Theresa King, an outreach worker at Economic Opportunity Board of Clark County, said that the state could lower the teen pregnancy rate by strengthening enforcement of existing statutory rape laws, or raising the age of consent from 16 to 18. James Hunt, Economic Opportunity Board men's health clinic supervisor and teen pregnancy prevention coordinator, works to educate Las Vegas teenage boys about the consequences of sexual activity.

"The biggest problem is peer pressure and not knowing how to say no," Hunt said.

In workshops divided by gender, Hunt said teenagers open up to him about their perceptions of sex.

"A lot of the young men are saying that the young women are very aggressive toward them," said Hunt. "We teach them refusal skills."

"They think it's not macho to refuse, they think that having sex at an early age makes them a man, but it doesn't make them a man. It makes them a parent who is not ready to be a parent," Hunt said.

The EOB is conducting a series of related workshops for teenagers this Saturday at the Second Baptist Church at 500 Madision Ave.

T-shirts that say "Safe sex = no sex" and classes addressing sexual activity and substance abuse are free to teenagers in the community. The "Teen Summit" begins at 9 a.m.

Despite the decrease in overall numbers, the state maintains the highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation, according to the Center For Disease Control in Atlanta. The national numbers are based on the 15-19 year-old age group, in which Nevada has a pregnancy rate of 117 per 1,000. Texas is second with 116. In 1998 Nevada saw a 6.3 percent drop in pregnancy rates among girls 15 to 19, but the rest of the nation had similar drops, leaving Nevada as No. 1 in teen pregnancies.

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