Posted on 12/29/2003 8:48:08 AM PST by Theodore R.
Teen pregnancy said problem in Valley
Associated Press
HARLINGEN, Texas (AP) Teenage pregnancy rates in the Rio Grande Valley have been higher than rates in Texas and the rest of the United States in recent years, according to a newspaper report.
Texas Department of Health data from 2001 shows that fewer than 30 of every 1,000 girls in the state ages 13 to 17 got pregnant. In the Valley, the rate was 42.
In 2002, a survey of girls age 15 to 19 found that 97 of every 1,000 girls in the United States was pregnant, compared to 113 of every 1,000 girls in Texas, according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.
“Overall, Texas mirrors what’s happening in the rest of the country,” campaign spokesman Bill Albert told the Valley Morning Star for a story in Sunday’s editions.
Those who become pregnant in the Valley often lack the resources to finish school, raise a healthy child and regain control of their lives, experts said.
“We’ve seen a lot of girls who are very young who have repeat pregnancies,” said Monica Salinas, program director at Buckner Children & Family Services. “If it happens once, (we say) ‘Let’s everybody work together to help this child make better life choices,’ and then it happens all over again,” Salinas told the newspaper.
Buckner ran one of the few teenage-mother support programs outside of schools in the Valley before it shut down last year. Salinas tried to get the three-year pilot program, called Second Chance, extended from Hidalgo County to the entire Valley so girls in Brownsville, Rio Grande City and Raymondville could benefit.
However, the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services changed the program’s requirements to allow only 19- to 21-year-olds who needed housing assistance to get help. Because most pregnant teens in the Valley are younger and live with family after they get pregnant, funding for the program was cut, leaving many pregnant teens with only their schools to help.
Teen pregnancy rates have decreased steadily in the past decade, but nationwide, 35 percent of girls still get pregnant before they are 20, according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.
Babies of teenagers are more likely to be too small at birth, suffer from health problems and struggle in school, studies show. Teen mothers and fathers are often unprepared for parenthood, sometimes leading to abuse or neglect, according to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
The parents often don’t finish school, either. Ninety-four percent of teenagers in the United States graduate from high school or earn a general equivalency diplomas within two years of their expected graduation date. Among teenage mothers, only 64 percent finish high school or earn GEDs, according to a 1999 report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
12/29/03
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Not a chance. It's the same on the 11 o'clock news. If the perp is not white, no mention of race is made. However if the perp is not a minority, the announcer will chime in with: "Police are looking for an angry white male!"
Texas newspapers now withhold the names of illegal Mexican alien drivers involved in traffic fatalities. They are uninsured (and often drunk/high), unlicensed, and, often, totally overwhelmed by driving an old car at almost 100 MPH. But, there are so many of them that the newspapers help conceal the fact by simply not reporting Mexican names.
"... the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services changed the program’s requirements to allow only 19- to 21-year-olds who needed housing assistance to get help. Because most pregnant teens in the Valley are younger and live with family after they get pregnant, funding for the program was cut, leaving many pregnant teens with only their schools to help."
Gotta love those young journalists schooled in the best of PC-speak. When I read the headline I initially thought the article was about teen pregnancy, but it is really about the cold, cruel Republicans in the statehouse that cut funding for programs that divide pregnant teens from their parents. Silly me.
Oh, and of course the issue that of course can't be spoken out loud is that the problem is cultural. The girls getting pregnant in the Rio Grande Valley are mostly Mexican-American. This is a problem that is an echo of our nation's immigration problem. I wonder what the teen pregnancy rate is on the other side of the border?
Lastly, note the second quote above. Because the pregnant teens only live with their parents, then they can only go to their school for help. Hellooo? I thought that's what parents were for. But this idiot young journalist can't see beyond the polemics of her bias.
You forgot to add "...driving an SUV and smoking!"
They're bringing the culture of Mexico over --- where pregnant 12 years olds is a common occurrence --- only now the American taxpayer will pay for them the rest of their lives. One problem in Mexico is it's culture of early sex and childbearing, it's hard to make a good living when you have no education and a baby at age 12.
They aren't coming here to better themselves, they're coming here to have us pay for them while they continue on as they always have.
The same --- if you ever go to Mexico, you'll see 12 year old girls begging on the streets with their little babies in their arms. This is why American welfare is so attractive to these people ---- it's great getting the government to hand you a paycheck for doing nothing at all.
Surely you jest - I've been told many times that they are the salvation of the Social Security program.
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