Tuesday, January 13, 1998

Numbers cloud teen pregnancy progress here

Statistics covering the first year of the Community Foundation of Abilene's Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative are in, but the results are too mixed to draw sharp conclusions.

The new figures, in fact, raise more questions than they answer.

In 1996, according to the Texas Bureau of Vital Statistics, Taylor County recorded 167 births to teen-age mothers. Though still higher than the state average, that's down from 177 in 1995, the first full year of a comprehensive communitywide campaign to combat teen pregnancy. But it's higher than the 159 teen births reported in 1994, the year before the local campaign went into action.

Further clouding the picture, the report shows 30 more pregnant Taylor County teens obtained abortions in 1996 than in 1995, a 60 percent jump from 50 to 80.

If the abortion figures are accurate (and such a sizable jump raises skeptical eyebrows), that suggests there are not fewer Taylor County teens getting pregnant but fewer pregnant teens giving birth - which is not the goal toward which the abstinence-only Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative has aimed.

Teen pregnancy has become a focus of community effort because it is so closely linked with our biggest social ills - poverty, drug abuse, unemployment, crime, homelessness, illiteracy. And anyone who has given even cursory thought to the teen pregnancy problem knows that solving it is like trying to put a lid on a box with no sides. Its causes are as varied and complex as its effects.

Nationwide surveys, for example, indicate up to two-thirds of the fathers of teen pregnancies are adult men, who remain mostly immune from campaigns directed at teens having sex. What forum best addresses those irresponsible men?

Raising questions

Other questions arise. Why is the county's rate of births to Hispanic teens almost twice the state average? And some social and medical professionals say that despite Abilene's conservative cultural and religious makeup, it is time to talk openly about birth control for teens in addition to stressing abstinence as the most effective way to prevent pregnancy and ensure a successful adult life.

Statistics, always troublesome to interpret, are especially difficult to explain regarding teen pregnancy. In looking at the latest abortion numbers, for example, it must be pointed out that abortions are not performed in Taylor County. Patients in other parts of the state are asked to give their county of residence but can't be forced to be honest when they do. Plus, better reporting statewide may have affected the 1996 numbers.

And one key figure these statistics don't show is how many more teens would have become pregnant without the local initiative.

The Community Foundation knew when it made a commitment to fight teen pregnancy that measuring the results would be problematic. It will take years to compile the statistics that might offer proof of a sort that the campaign is working or not. In the meantime, leaders concerned about the community and its youth must continue making the most intelligent efforts they can. Teen pregnancy is too big a problem to go away on its own if we ignore it.