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Hernando Today

Hernando Teen Pregnancy Rates Creep Up

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By TONY MARRERO

Hernando Today

Published: April 1, 2009

Updated: 04/01/2009 06:26 pm

BROOKSVILLE - New statistics show that teen pregnancy rates ticked up in the United States in 2007, the percentage of children born out of wedlock hit an all-time high — and Hernando County followed both of those trends.
The teen pregnancy rate in Hernando crept up one point from 2006 to 20 births per 1,000 women ages 10-19, according to the Florida Department of Health. That's still lower than the state rate, which remained unchanged at just more than 22 births per 1,000 women in that age group.
The number of children born out of wedlock in the United States hit an all-time high of about 40 percent of all births. Hernando's rate: also a high, at 45 percent of all births.
That's up from 41.9 percent in 2007. The figure has showed a general upward trend since hitting a 10-year low of just more than 35 percent in 1998.
The pregnancy rates for women ages 10 to 19 continue a nearly decade-long trend for Hernando County of hovering around 20 births per 1,000 women. After hitting 27 births per 1,000 women in that age group in 1998, the figure took a sharp drop and by 2002 had sunk to 19 births.
Other Hernando County statistics:
* The total number of births to women between 13 and 18 years in Hernando decreased from 56 to 53 from 2006 to 2007. That number hit a 10-year high of 57 births in 2003.
* The total number of births to unmarried women ages 10 and 17 stayed the same in Hernando at 48.
* The percentage of mothers between the ages of 15 and 19 who had another baby dropped slightly from 15 to 14.2 percent. That percentage hit a 10-year high in 1999 at more than 26 percent.
Marie Monohan, program manager for the pregnancy and parenting services program for Catholic Charities in Spring Hill, doesn't see many very young women come through the doors, but the agency does help women younger than 18 as well as an increasing number of unmarried women.
Monohan said she has noticed a trend: "Adoption does not seem to be considered an option by most of them."
Still, Monohan gives them information on adoption.
"My feeling is, get all the information and then make a decision," she said. "You have to know all the alternatives to make good choices."
While the group encourages abstinence and discourages birth control, Monohan also refers women to the Hernando County Health Department.
Getting young women who have already had a child is one of the department's top priorities, said Carolyn Wilfong, senior community health nurse at the health department.
The department also refers women to the Teen and Tot program at Hernando and Nature Coast Technical high schools. The program offers childcare services, classes and support to students who are pregnant or have children so they can graduate.
"I tell them that's the best thing they can do for the baby is get their high school diploma," Wilfong said.
As for the school district's efforts to prevent teen pregnancy, local health teachers are told not to deviate from an abstinence-based curriculum. That policy has been in place since the 1990s.
But some current school board members have said they'd be willing to take another look at the policy, though there are no firm plans to do so.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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