53% of young Latinas pregnant by 20th birthday.

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/19/latinas.pregnancy.rate/index.html

Survey delves into high birth rate for young Latinas

53 percent of Latinas are pregnant by their 20th birthday, survey finds

Survey: Most feel that college, career are key to their future

Most teens in study believe that parents give conflicting messages


By Moni Basu
CNN

(CNN) -- She had many plans for the future: to go to college, start a career, meet the man of her dreams, raise a family -- when the time was right.


Expert: "There's a big disconnect between pregnancy rates and what Latina families want and value."

It was all cut off by an unexpected pregnancy. The baby became her life, consuming her energy and forcing her dreams to the back burner of her life.

This typical Latina is 20 or younger. And has had her first baby.

It's not what she wanted. Nor did her parents, who are the greatest influence on her decisions about sex, according to a wide-ranging survey released Tuesday by experts on the Hispanic community in the United States.

The survey also found that 84 percent of Latino teens and 91 percent of Latino parents believe that graduating from college or university or having a promising career is the most important goal for a teen's future.

Somewhere along the way, the aspirations fail to match up to reality. The survey attempts to examine some of the reasons for the disparity and why Latinas now have the highest teen birth rate among all ethnic and racial groups in the United States.

According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, more than half -- 53 percent -- of Latinas get pregnant by their 20th birthday, nearly twice the national average.

[SharonAnn]

1. Hmmm, let's see. Sex as usual but not birth control and no abortions.

That would result in pregnancy.

Abstinence is not reality for young people, certainly not after 18 and probably not before.

So, go with the "avoid pregnancy" plan.

[Mythsaje]

2. Fucking Church...n/t

[YOY]

5. Church(es)

Evangelists are pretty predatory with the latino community where I live.

The Catholic families tend to be pretty much better off but you see the same.

[anonymous171]

16. I know. The pope is probably impregnating these women himself.

Horny bastard.

[Mythsaje]

19. Ewww. Now there's a horrible image...

Darth Sideous gets busy.

[CrawlingChaos]

37. He has a boyfriend

Google "Georg Gänswein" and check out Darth Sideous' "personal secretary and companion". Extremely easy on the eyes, shall we say.

[TheWraith]

3. That sounds like the population of my 97% white hometown. nt

[SeeHopeWin]

4. Fuck that....

The Pope did it!

[EFerrari]

6. Well, let's see. When you watch the report, the first thing the anchor says is

this is an old, old number. Then, there is no link or citation to the survey itself.

While it is true that Latinas and black young women have more teen pregnancies, they also account for more of the underserved and under-resourced young women in the United States. So, saying this is a LATINA problem isn't as accurate as saying this is a class or low income problem.

I notice the article goes out of its way to end with this idea: "That means by 2025, one-quarter of all American teens will be Latinos"

This is anti-Latino propaganda, not a report on the health of Latina youth. The Mexicans are breeding like rabbits and you better watch your wallet, etc.

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. Good points.

[EFerrari]

9. The clincher will be if Lou picks it up.

lol

[ColbertWatcher]

10. Thank you. There's always more to the story beyond the headline. Well done. n/t

[EFerrari]

11. My Latino extended family made it into the upper middle class

sometime around 1965. That means, I and all my female cousins had access to sex ed, birth control and abortions. And more than that, we had access to parents who could imagine a future for us.

[Canuckistanian]

14. I'm guessing you'd see similar numbers in ANY low-income population

Even comparing urban/rural pregnancy rates, you'd probably see something similar.

And we already KNOW that Bible-belt regions have higher young pregnancy rates.

This is an education issue, not an ethnic one.

[EFerrari]

15. Yep. And today Lou Dobbs ran a story about undiagnosed flu cases

and every bit of the accompanying film clips showed Latinos. Just another CNN hate story in public health drag.

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. And they are bringing diseases!

:scared:

[EFerrari]

40. Last night Lou Dobbs ran a fear segment on "undiagnosed" cases of swine flu.

All the video clips he ran under the narration were of Latinos although he didn't say the word. What a freak.

[redqueen]

30. Thank you. (nt)

[stillcool]

8. Too bad young women in this country...

have no access to birth control, or education about their own bodies.

[Thothmes]

13. To bad that the young women in this

country are the only ones that are that we expect to be concerned about birth control. Somehow the young men are free to spread their dna without the least bit of concern. Condums are inexpensive, readily available, very effective and do not require prescriptions from physicians. Yet only young
women are responsibile for birth control.

[seahorse19]

34. Touche! And guess who gets to take care of the little ones when Daddy goes buh-bye?

No text required.

[SoCalDem]

12. Horny teens have sex..whodathunkit?

Young women (and men) crave companionship, and since the rate of women graduating and going to college EXCEEDS that of the young guys, it's not surprising to me at all, that in a culture (Catholic) that frowns on birth control, and highly values the "virtue" of their young women, there has to be a contingent of young (left-behind) men who see a way to keep their "girl" at home with them, though motherhood..

sorry about the convoluted syntax, but laying it out plainly.. a baby in the belly of a college-bound girl, is one sure way that she'll "stay home".. and once she has ONE, why not have more..even if the guy doesn't follow through with the "marriage" part..

[EFerrari]

17. That's a fine analysis but we have no way of knowing how much of this story

is even true. They don't disclose their source for the stats and they confess at the outset that it's outdated. Quite a hat trick.

[The Straight Story]

18. Well, at least they can't blame me on this one

:rofl:

[Enrique]

20. maybe Bristol Palin is Latina

:shrug:

[cbc5g]

21. they can thank catholic religion

obviously in a male dominant religion they want women barefoot and pregnant at an early age to keep control

organized religion is a disease.

[YOY]

22. You can thank Christianity in general

and try not to assume all Latinos are Catholics. If you look a little closer a strong percentage are not.

[smirkymonkey]

25. But traditionally, Catholics (the Pope) have been anti-abortion and

anti-birth control, whereas mainstream Protestants have not had those taboos. Not until the whack-job Fundamentalists came along, that is. Across the board, unmarried Catholics have a higher rate of "illegitamate" births than Protestants. "Nice Catholic girls don't carry condoms in thier purses."

[YOY]

26. A strong percentage of the latino community where I live go to the wackjobs.

And not to the Catholic church. We're not talking Presbyterians or Lutherans. Church of Christ/ Evangelists/batshit Southern Baptists. Usually the Catholics tend to be financially and professionally better off than those who get prayed on (sic) by the fundies. Of course, that's just from what my agnostic ass has seen.

Traditionally yes...at the flip side of it the strong overall cultural sense of family (not so much religion related there.) usually involves making sure the kids don't grow up unloved or uncared for...but the religion is there to make sure that the next generation may fall in the same pitfalls.

[Blue_Tires]

24. it is something that has just become commonplace and expected by now

by teens, their peers and their parents (and I'm not just talking about Latino communities) some teen girls/guys see the early pregnancy as a rite of passage, and there is a LOT less pressure (legal, finanacial, social) on the teen dad to grow up than there used to be...and so many teen moms just dump the kids with their parents while they continue to party...

[seahorse19]

35. There is a cultural aspect to it, though...The highest birthrate in America

is in the Hispanic population. Yes, we can cite Catholicism, but it's also a culture in which it's common for sons and daughters to live at home until marriage. Very close-knit. But maybe it's an incentive to get married young!:rofl:

[underpants]

27. Highest rate of teen pregnancy in the US was in.......

the 1950's

People tend to have babies when the see their future being bright

[Blue_Tires]

28. i bet a much higher percentage of teens in the 50s were married

[Quantess]

31. "People tend to have babies when the see their future being bright"?

That is debatable, to say the least. News reports show a rise in births this year, 2009. The reasons, if I remember correctly, were women discontinuing birth control pills because of the cost, and more idle (unemployed) time to have sex.

People may plan to have babies in good economic times. However, only about 50% of babies are planned. Unplanned pregnancies arguably increase in economic down times.

[underpants]

43. Okay that is correct

I forgot about the Brown-out of 2005 (NYC to Cleveland) and the HUGE spike in births 9 months later

[Old Hank]

29. Does anyone have the statistics for African American teens?

?

[seahorse19]

36. It's down, I believe...Maybe even way down...Blacks make up only around 12% of the US population, I

believe. It wasn't too long ago that Hispanics passed them up. Supposedly they make up around 16% of the population, but I believe those are faulty numbers and are actually higher. I believe it because I have seen over and over statistics of local public schools (where I have been in the classroom) and they downplay Latinos and pump up the White numbers.

[Old Hank]

44. Not the trend. What is the percentage?

Regardless of the trend, what is the percentage of African American teens who become pregnant before turning 20?

[seahorse19]

32. I think the numbers are low...As a rule, families are very important in the Latino community

I lived for years in a predominantly Mexican area and saw very young women with elementary-age kids. It's a strange push-pull thing. I went to community college with many of these young women and they were much younger and one woman had seven kids and worked, as well! (And was thin as a rail, to boot!)

Another aspect of this is that the parents of these young women may have scant education themselves. So although a part of them may want their girls to "get ahead," they also may be afraid to let them go, for fear that they will change too much and they will somehow lose them.

Interesting: I saw very few Hispanic guys at community college or university. And even fewer young Black men:(

[csziggy]

33. CDC - Pregnancy rates for Hispanic teens declined 24 % during 1992-2004

But increased from 2004 to 2007.

Information Sheet
October 2008
NCHS Data on Teenage Pregnancy
<SNIP>
Rates by Race and Hispanic Origin

Pregnancy rates dropped for teenagers in all population subgroups between 1990 and 2004. Overall, pregnancy rates for black and white non-Hispanic teenagers declined 45 and 48 percent, respectively, with much larger declines for younger than for older teenagers. The rates for Hispanic teenagers began to decline after 1992; the overall teen pregnancy rate for this group fell about 24 percent during 1992-2004.

Changes in Pregnancy Rates by Outcome

All components of the pregnancy rates for teenagers (births, abortions, and fetal losses) declined from 1990 through 2004. Teenage birth rates fell one-third from the 1991 peak (61.8 per 1,000) through 2004, and continued to decline through 2005 (by 35 percent to 40.5). The birth rate increased 3 percent between 2005 and 2006 (41.9), interrupting the long-term decline. Abortion rates for teenagers dropped by one-half from 40.3 to 19.8 per 1,000.

Birth and abortion rates fell for non-Hispanic white and black teenagers and for Hispanic teenagers through 2004. The declines in birth and abortion rates during 1990-2004 were 37 and 65 percent, respectively, for white teenagers; 46 percent and 43 percent for black teenagers; and 18 percent and 31 percent for Hispanic teenagers. After generally continuing to decline through 2005, birth rates for each population subgroup increased in 2006.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/infosheets/infosheet_teen_preg.htm#rates

From Changing Patterns of Nonmarital Childbearing in the United States (5/13/2009):

Birth rates for unmarried women have varied fairly consistently by race and Hispanic origin. The rates for Hispanic women (106 births per 1,000 unmarried women in 2006) and black women (72 per 1,000) were highest.

From 1995 to 2002, the nonmarital birth rate for black women declined 12%. Rates for non-Hispanic white and Hispanic women were essentially unchanged during these years.
In the recent period 2002–2006, birth rates for unmarried non-Hispanic white women rose by 14% and for black women by 9%, while the rates climbed 20% for Hispanic women and 24% for API women.
<SNIP>
At one time, references to births to unmarried women and births to teenagers were considered one and the same only because births to unmarried women were disproportionately, although certainly not exclusively, among teenagers. In 1970, 50% of nonmarital births were to unmarried women under age 20.
<SNIP>
In the years since the mid-1970s, this proportion has fallen steadily. In 2007, 23% of nonmarital births were to teenagers. The decline largely reflects the drop in birth rates for unmarried teenagers concurrent with the large increases in birth rates for adult unmarried women.

Sixty percent of nonmarital births in 2007 were to women in their twenties, significantly higher than the 42% level in 1970.

About one in six births to unmarried women in 2007 were to women aged 30 years and over, much higher than the proportion in 1970, 1 in 12.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db18.pdf

Looking at the graphics in the most recent report, I would suspect that lack of contraceptive instruction and availability as well as religious antipathy towards their use would be a strong influence in the higher Hispanic birth rate.

[BeHereNow]

38. Hate to tell you all this- BUT... it is a STATUS symbol among teen Latino girls

I have worked for nearly five years now in the local public school district-
special ed classes to be specific.
Many Latino youths are dumped into what we call "Special Day Classes."
Many of them have been to Juvenile Hall numerous times and I believe,
are simply dumped into these classes as a way of segregating them from the mainstream
population.
It is a WELL known fact among my peers that these young women consider pregnancy to be a status symbol.
If you are pregnant by the age of 15 or 16, you immediately gain superior status among your peers.
All discussions about "How will you afford to take care of this child?" and "wWhat about the limitations
you have just put upon the possibilities for your own future?" mean nothing to them.

Most of these children, born to children themselves, end up with their grandparents taking on the
responsibility of raising these children, often through welfare and state assistance.
Mean while the fathers, children themselves, are LONG gone and have impregnated at least ONE
other young Latino by the time the first child is born.

It is a disaster and an epidemic here in SoCal.

I have gone past the point of being able to even try to reach these kids.
I simply bang my head on the wall most days.

BHN

[EFerrari]

39. I just saw a documentary about young women in England

that had a similar culture. This isn't about Latinos, it's about poverty.

[Ilsa]

41. I knew a woman who gave her daughters "vitamins" every morning.

They didn't get pregnant and all of them graduated from high school. I think they all went to college, too. She gave them those oral contraceptives in case they became enamored with the idea of getting pregnant for status.

I used to feel like she was wrong for doing that to her girls, but I don't feel that way any more. Keeping them un-pregnant was the best way she had for making sure they finished a minimum level of education.

[EFerrari]

42. Bless her heart. That's one brave mom. n/t