Teen births drop in LV

Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2002 | 11:07 a.m.

When longtime maternity nurse Cynthia Speer heard the news about local teen pregnancies Monday, she had few words to describe it: "Amazing -- truly amazing."

The number of teen pregnancies and major birth problems declined dramatically in Las Vegas between 1998 and 1999, a national survey released today shows.

The Kids Count Survey found that teen births in Las Vegas fell 3 percentage points below the national average of 14 percent in 1999, the latest year available. Between 1998 and 1999, Las Vegas dipped from 12 percent to 11 percent in that category.

"I remember a time when we led the nation in teen births at around 20 percent," said Speer, director of women's services at MountainView Hospital and a maternity nurse since 1974.

"It is amazing -- truly amazing -- that this decline has occurred."

The survey by Kids Count, a project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation that addresses children's rights and health issues, also found that births to unmarried Las Vegas women declined from 37 percent to 35 percent between 1998 and 1999, which is 8 percentage points below the national average.

Births to women receiving late or no prenatal care between 1990 and 1999 dropped from 11 percent to 6 percent, while births to smokers between 1997 and 1999 declined from 12 percent to 11 percent, the survey said.

"Education is the big reason for this," said Speer, a single mother of three teenage girls and two grown boys. "It's interesting that a manicurist has to have 1,500 hours of training and be licensed to put polish on my fingernails, yet needs no education in parenting to have a child.

"These findings are a credit to (local) parenting programs."

The results predict a brighter future for local children, said Richard Wertheimer, author of the report and a researcher for Child Trends, a nonprofit research center.

"Whether a mother smokes, whether she receives prenatal care, how much education (she) has and her age when she gives birth have all proven to be valuable indicators of children's futures."

Speer said he advocates some level of training for pre-pubescent girls and boys to better prevent teen pregnancy, including teaching children as early as age 9 or 10 how babies are conceived.

"Education definitely is a factor," said Janice Smith, a nurse and manager of the Sunrise Hospital Center for Healthy Families. "Especially more awareness of AIDS and hepatitis. The biggest fear once was that you could get pregnant as a consequence of your actions. Now, you could die."