Sunday, May 31, 1998

Seeking a partnership to impact teen-age pregnancy

By Evanell Turner

Teen pregnancy is not going to go away. Why? Because it's only a symptom of much larger problems in our society.

If this isn't the real problem, what is? I believe it's a lack of personal responsibility, of not having a vision for a future that is sure and unshakable. What can we do, as caring people, to instill in our children that each one of them is a part of a larger world community, that each one was created to fill a special niche that no one else can in exactly the same way, that each one must start early thinking about life goals and how to achieve them?

If we could show them, step by step, how to get there, how to get the education and training they need -- where to go, how to pay for it, how to get scholarships and grants, how to identify their own special talents and develop them to their fullest -- then maybe their thinking would be shifted enough to divert them from getting bogged down in having children before they're ready.

If each child knew what he was going to do with his life early on and knew how to get there and knew he would be encouraged and aided along the way, why would he want to settle for less? Why would he want to ask his children to settle for less?

If self-destructive behavior became unpopular, if the teens themselves began to look at premature sexual activity as stupid and irresponsible, why would they want to put themselves in the position of being ridiculed? What if teens could work together, socializing as they are supposed to in warm, caring, asexual relationships without the pressure of drugs, sex and alcohol to spoil their fun?

What if they concentrated instead on bringing joy to others, to thinking about people other than themselves? To helping an elderly neighbor with her yard or painting or singing or playing musical instruments at a nursing home or hospital? What if they gave an overworked mother a day out? What if they themselves created posters or some form of art to show the wisdom of waiting to have children?

What if they role-played different scenarios to figure out how to handle difficult situations? What if they themselves went about looking for ways to do good, ways to improve their community? What if they knew, absolutely knew, that someone older and wiser would be interested enough in their success to take an active role in helping them achieve their goals? If they were encouraged to allow their imaginations free rein to dream anything, what would they choose to become?

This is not an argument about sex education vs. abstinence; adoption vs. abortion; the issues of providing readily available birth control. The all-consuming goal, the only goal, would be to reduce teen pregnancy.

Because teen pregnancy is such an enormous problem stemming from multiple roots, Gov. George W. Bush, in recognition of the success of the Texas Works program, has asked Texas Department of Human Services Commissioner Eric Bost to address this problem. It will be the next DHS initiative.

Bost stressed that slashing the teen pregnancy rate will require the partnership of every school, every business, every agency in the community, every church, every civic organization and, most of all, the cooperation and commitment of our teens. Our overriding goal would be to challenge them to do their best in such a way that self-destructive choices would seem like no choice at all.

It would be a win-win situation -- taxpayers win, teens win, their children win and society wins -- if the teen pregnancy rate can be cut in half. But it will take all of us, working together, to reach this goal. We must be willing to listen to ideas from other people and we must be willing to learn from the teens themselves. Our teens must know how much we care about them.

Evanell Turner is a Texas Department of Human Services employee who sees referrals for the pre-natal clinic at Hendrick Health System. She is also the mother of a teen-ager and a two-time teen mother herself.