Family Planning Program
Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program
The Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program provides comprehensive sex education programs, training and technical assistance for teen pregnancy prevention.
Programming includes in or out-of-school programs, service learning, and parent education. Pre- and post-survey methodology is used to evaluate the projects.
The Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program works closely with the New Mexico Teen Pregnancy Coalition (NMTPC) to provide statewide training, technical assistance and support for teen pregnancy prevention.
NMTPC provides targeted community specific technical assistance, promotes teens pregnancy prevention statewide and organizes a statewide conference on teen pregnancy prevention.
New Mexico Teen Pregnancy Coalition
http://www.nmtpc.org
PO Box 35997
Albuquerque, NM 87176
New Mexico Teen Pregnancy Facts
The teen birth rate [1] in New Mexico is decreasing, but not as quickly as for the United States. In 2009, New Mexico’s teen birth rate of 52.7 births per 1,000 females, age 15-19, was higher than the United States teen birth rate of 39.1.[2] Between 1998 and 2009, New Mexico’s birth rate to mothers age 15-19 declined 32% compared to 33% nationally.
Teen pregnancy and childbearing are associated with adverse consequences for teen mothers and their children, but it is important to note that many of the negative consequences for teen mothers are due to the disadvantaged situation in which many of these girls already live.[3] Teenage mothers and fathers tend to have less education and are more likely to live in poverty than their peers who are not teen parents. Babies born to teenage parents are more likely not to be contributing members of society by age 24 than their peers, are at higher risk for abuse and neglect, are 10 times more likely to be poor than children born to married women who are 20 or older and have a high school diploma, are 22% more likely to be “teen moms” themselves if they are females, and are 13% more likely to end up in prison if they are males. [4]
Teen pregnancy imposes costs on the teenage mothers, children born to teenagers and society in general. Teenage mothers can expect to earn, after tax, between $50,000 and $120,000 less over a lifetime compared to mothers who delay until at least age 20. Children born to teenagers in any one year earn $100 million less over their lifetime [5]. An estimate of the annual extra cost of welfare services for these children is $8 million.between $1 million and $2 million. Overall, the economic impact of teen pregnancy and childbearing in New Mexico cost taxpayers at least $118 million in 2008. on society is $170,000 for each teenage mother, for a total of nearly $590 million for all new mothers each year in New Mexico. Between 1991 and 2008 the teen birth rate in New Mexico declined 20%. This progress made in reducing teen pregnancy and childbearing saved taxpayers an estimated $35 million in 2008 alone compared to the cost it would have incurred if rates had not fallen. [6]
The risk and protective factors for teen pregnancy may be grouped into 4 key themes:
- Individual biological factors (e.g. age, physical maturity and gender)
- Disadvantage, disorganization and dysfunction in the lives of the teens themselves and their environments (e.g. rates of substance abuse, violence, and divorce; also levels of education)
- Sexual values, attitudes, and modeled behavior (e.g. teens’ own values about sexual behavior as well as those expressed by parents, peers, and romantic partners)
- Connection to adults and organizations that discourage sex, unprotected sex, or early childbearing (e.g. attachment to parents and other adults in their schools and places of worship).[7]
Several key ideas for teen pregnancy prevention programs that serve Hispanic youth are cited in a recent study:
- Hispanics are a diverse group and this diversity extends to the family unit. The varying levels of acculturation for children of immigrants and their parents needs to be addressed.
- Try to turn what may be seen as cultural barriers into cultural motivators.
- Working with Hispanic teens means working with their families, and parents need the motivation and skills to talk with their teens.
- Pay closer attention to the influence growing up in a bicultural world has on ideas and behavior related to teen pregnancy and family formation.
The case for preventing teen pregnancy needs to be made in a way that supports childbearing and family formation generally – strongly held values in Hispanic culture – while explaining the social, economic, and health benefits to adults and children of postponing family formation until after the teen years.[8]
[1] The teen pregnancy rate is based on the number of reported pregnancies. Many teen pregnancies are not reported and teen pregnancy statistics include the number of live births as well as the number of induced abortions and fetal deaths. Since not all induced abortions and fetal deaths are reported, teen birth statistics are usually used because they are considered more accurate and can be compared from state to state. The teen birth rate is the number of births to females in a defined population (e.g., county, state) divided by the total number of females in the same population, multiplied by a constant, usually 1,000.
[2] Martin, J.A., Hamilton, B.E., Ventura, S.J., Osterman, M.J.K., Kirmeyer, S., Mathews, T.J., & Wilson, E.C. (2011). Births: final data for 2009. National vital statistics reports, 60(1). Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics.
[3] Vexler, E. & Suellentrop, K. Bridging Two Worlds: How Teen Pregnancy Prevention Programs Can Better Serve Latino Youth. Washington, DC: The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. 2006.
[4] Hoffman, S.D. & Maynard, R.A. (2008). Kids having kids: economic costs and social consequences of teen pregnancy (2nd ed.). Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute Press.
[5] Ganderton, P. T. (2006). The Economic Cost of Teenage Childbearing and Parenting in New Mexico: New Estimates. NMDOH, Santa Fe, NM. 87502.
[6] Hoffman, S. (2011). Counting it up: the public costs of teen childbearing in New Mexico in 2008. Washington, DC: The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.
[7] Kirby D, Lepore G and Ryan J. Sexual Risk and Protective Factors. Factors Affecting Teen Sexual Behavior, Pregnancy, Childbearing And Sexually Transmitted Disease: Which Are Important? Which Can You Change? The National Campaign To Prevent Teen Pregnancy, September 2005.
[8] Vexler, E. & Suellentrop, K. (2006). Bridging Two Worlds: How Teen Pregnancy Prevention Programs Can Better Serve Latino Youth. Washington, DC: The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. 2006.