Saturday, May 6, 2000

Cape Fear region continues to battle teen pregnancy

By Venita Jenkins and Diane Mouskourie
Staff writers

The number of North Carolina teens who become pregnant has declined in recent years, but four counties in the Cape Fear region continue to have some of the highest teen-pregnancy rates in the state.

Hoke, Robeson, Lee and Columbus counties rank among the top 10 in teen pregnancy rates, according to the state Department of Health Statistics.

Staff photo by Ethan Hyman Cicely Pighet, with the Robeson County Council of Hope, discusses choices with teen-agers during the Safer Choices program.

Hoke County is third in the state for births to girls between the ages of 15 and 19. In 1998, there were 136 babies born to girls age 15 to 19.

Robeson is fifth with 555 babies; Lee County is eighth with 192 babies; and Columbus is 10th with 211 babies.

Statewide, there were 21,050 babies born to girls age 15 to 19.

Health officials and educators in the region say they promote abstinence until marriage. But many say they are unable to address a key part of sex education: birth control.

In 1977, the North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation requiring the Department of Public Instruction to develop and implement a comprehensive health-education program for kindergarten through ninth grade.

In 1995, it ratified that law to include sex education for the purpose of pregnancy prevention. One year later, the General Assembly added its Abstinence Until Marriage Act. It says that if a comprehensive sex education course is to be taught in schools one of the components must be abstinence until marriage.

Individual school boards decide what components of the sex education curriculum are taught in county schools, said Ronnie Chavis, head of the sex education program for Robeson County schools.

The school system must also hold public hearings whenever sex education is being considered as part of the curriculum. Hearings must also be held when new material to the curriculum is being considered, he said.

In Hoke County, the sex education curriculum teaches abstinence until marriage only.

‘‘The school does the best it can promoting abstinence,” said Angela Gosley, a social worker at Hoke High School. ‘‘But prevention requires a combined effort between home, school and the community.”

Despite the high number of adolescent pregnancies in the region, parents have not pushed to include talk of contraceptives in sex education classes, officials said.

In 1996, a group in Cumberland County wanted to provide teens with condoms as a way to promote safe sex. But the local chapter of the Christian Coalition lobbied against it.

At Fayetteville Center Christian Academy the Rev. Donnie Anderson said handing out condoms would be akin to giving teens permission to be promiscuous.

‘‘We do not believe handing out condoms works to reduce teen pregnancies,” Anderson said. ‘‘We teach morality telling teens to keep themselves pure until marriage.”

Because the school’s curriculum is Christian-based, health and sex education are taught based on a biblical approach.

‘‘We know students will make mistakes, but when that happens we support them in any way we can,” he said.

There are no moves to add contraceptives to Robeson’s sex education curriculum, Chavis said.

“The school board itself would probably react to what the parents want,’’ he said. “Right now, the parents are pretty much satisfied with what we are doing.’’

Vicki Bacon, a registered nurse and family planning coordinator at the Hoke County Health Department, says many parents aren’t supportive when it comes to contraceptive use among teens.

“We invite parents to come in during the initial visit and join in on the interview when the teen comes to the Health Department for contraceptives,’’ she said. “But, many parents just drop the child off and leave.’’

Programs to educate

Educators and health officials use a variety of programs to educate teens about safe sex and teen pregnancy. Several schools use the “Baby Think It Over’’ program. Teens are given computerized dolls that cry and respond to how they are treated. The dolls are intended to show teens what it’s like to be a parent.

In Cumberland County, there were 1,133 babies born to girls age 15 to 19 in 1998. The county uses a combination of prevention measures, including mentoring programs.

One of those programs is Steel Magnolias, which is designed to teach mothers and daughters how to communicate more effectively.

‘‘We’ve learned that it is very important for girls to have a mother present,” said Linda Miller, who founded the program. ‘‘She needs to be available to talk with her daughter.”

Brother’s Keeper is a similar program for boys. Both programs focus on abstinence.

‘‘We must all have a commitment to teaching children how to make decisions early,” Miller said. ‘‘Parents are letting kids make decisions earlier, but they are not equipping them to make those decisions.”

Other states have programs that teach teens about abstinence and include information about contraceptives. The number of high school students who have never had sex has risen 11 percent since 1991, but children are still having sex at younger ages, according to new figures from the Centers for Disease Control.

Research by the center shows that sex education that emphasizes abstinence and includes information about contraceptives helps prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually-transmitted diseases.

‘‘Teens in the U.S. frequently report that intercourse just happened, or was an accident,” a CDC report states. ‘‘What this means is that many American teens are having unprotected sexual intercourse because they feel guilty when they protect themselves.”

The CDC survey found that 37 percent of the young men and 49 percent of the young women did not use condoms the last time they had sex.

‘Safer Choices’

A new program called Safer Choices is being taught in Pembroke and Lumberton public housing areas. The 10-week program covers sexually-transmitted diseases, contraceptives, abstinence, date rape and how to develop healthy relationships.

It is open to youth ages 13 to 18. Teens must receive permission from parents to attend the class.

“We can basically talk about anything the teen-ager wants to talk about,’’ said Cicely Pighet, the project consultant. “The most asked questions are basically questions that the parents really don’t want to talk about.’’

Pighet said she doesn’t believe a person is promoting sex by talking about contraceptives. She said relying on abstinence isn’t the answer.

“How can you talk about STDs or AIDS if you can’t talk about one of the ways of preventing it from happening if you are sexually active?’’ she said. “Kids know far more than society and their parents give them credit for.’’

Linda Rigsby, president of the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Coalition of North Carolina, said comprehensive sex education programs -- such as Safer Choices -- have shown they can be effective in reducing teen pregnancies.

“Abstinence has its place, but it is a piece of a puzzle and most puzzles have a 1,000 pieces,’’ she said.

Rigsby said another piece is parents developing a good relationship with their teens to help them make healthy choices.

“The reality is that teens are having sex and we need to address that issue,’’ she said. “I believe that the family is the number one educator for sex education. The best contraceptive for teen-agers today is the hope of having a future.’’

Copyright 2000 The Fayetteville Observer