News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The statistics from the Central Oregon Health Council Task Force on Teen Pregnancy are startling:
"According to a survey of student risk, over half of Deschutes County teen-agers are sexually active by the end of high school. Over 30 percent are sexually active by age 15...
"...roughly one-third of sexually active teens eventually get pregnant (50 percent within the first six months of sexual activity)...
"...in 1994, among Deschutes County girls age 10-17, there were 227 documented pregnancies (147 births and 85 abortions..."
This information appears in "Facts of Teen LifeLife-Deschutes County," a newsletter published by the task force.
Sisters is not immune from the trend. Eight Sisters students are "parenting" this year, either pregnant or having had a child (see April 24 Nugget). This is up significantly from the year before, although not out of line with state averages.
Nor is Sisters immune from the impact. While the state allocates twice the school support for teen moms, from approximately $4,000 to $8,000 per girl, the district pays for services for these mothers and their babies.
Next year's proposed budget includes $10,000 to provide state-mandated transportation for the girls and their infants to daycare, then on to school for the young moms, with return trips in the afternoon.
At the same time, the district is cutting funds for the school nurse at the high school, the one who has been providing most of the counseling and disease information for the children prone to having babies, in addition to her duties in providing medical services.
But student mothers are eligible for other state aid. The extent and impact of this support has caused a vigorous debate in Sisters. In last week's Nugget, a letter writer suggested that teen mothers "should suffer the consequences and deal with problems (themselves) or with the help of (their) families."
That argument receives energetic rebuttal in this week's paper (see Letters to the Editor), with one saying it would be a mistake to "throw away our teen-agers for their mistakes or poor judgment."
But most of the focus has been on teen mothers. What about the fathers?
It is not generally recognized that according to a Oregon Department of Justice brochure on paternity laws, the "child of unmarried teenage parents is legally entitled to financial support by both parents.
This includes a right to the father's social security benefits, insurance benefits, inheritance and military benefits as well as wages..." according to The Rational Enquirer, published by the Oregon Teen Pregnancy Task Force.
Even teen fathers "under age 18 can be legally named as a parent and be required to make limited child support payments (these actions are intended not to punish the father, but to protect the rights of the child," according to the Enquirer.
But even if every school-aged male abstained from sex, two-thirds of the births among teens would still occur.
"Why? Because 70 percent of the births to mothers ages 10 to 18 across the nation are fathered by post-high school adult men," said the Enquirer.
The advocacy publication suggested that it was "time we started enforcing statutory rape laws (and) charging fathers for the support of their children."
Support for these new babies is also available from another, nongovernment source. But this option--adoption--is refused by the vast majority of young mothers and their families.
"Nationally, only about 3 percent of teens who carry their baby to term choose to place their child up for adoption. This is in sharp contrast with the 1970s when nearly 90 percent of children born to teens were placed for adoption," according to the "Facts of Teen LifeLife-Deschutes County" newsletter.
These statistics are reflected in Sisters. According to Sisters Middle/High nurse Julie Stover, all eight of the young women are planning on keeping their baby.
"Adoption is not the thing to do. The attitude is, `you carry your baby and you take care of it,' " said Stover.
That's true everywhere in the county, according to Bruce Abernethy, who chairs the Central Oregon Task Force on Teen Pregnancy, which assembled the "Facts of Teen Life-Deschutes County" newsletter.
"I do not know why. I have heard there is tremendous peer pressure among teens, and parental pressure, to keep the child," Abernethy said.
So putting a child up for adoption remains out of favor, despite the fact that "locally, in Deschutes County it is estimated that the wait for parents seeking to adopt a healthy baby can run several years (if they are ever able to adopt) and the number of parents looking to adopt a healthy child can outnumber available children by almost fifty to one."
Those are good odds, but even the growth in "open adoptions," where a young mother actually gets to choose the parents for her baby and have some continuing contact with the child, has not made adoption a more popular alternative.
Abernethy hopes to make a change in that. He also heads up the government's Commission on Children and Families in Deschutes County, and a larger portion of their effort will go to making adopting a viable option for local teens.
"The teens are not grounded in reality to think they can provide the best environment for their child," Abernethy said.
Even the federal government is getting involved in this debate--although possibly on the wrong side of the supply/demand equation.
The Associated Press caried stories this week that President Clinton endorses Republican legislation to give a $5,000 tax break to families that adopt children, and penalize states where agencies delay child placement while looking for an adoptive family of the same race.
President Clinton announced on Saturday, May 4 that he would authorize executive actions to force states to end welfare support for teenage parents who do not finish high school or live with a responsible parent or guardian.
Intended to improve care and family life for the newborn, these actions will probably not reduce teen pregnancy.
"There are lots of reasons girls get pregnant, and it has nothing to do with involvement in cocurricular activities," said school nurse Stover. "The girls often say `I just want someone to love and to love me.' "
"County-wide, if you talk to the public health nurses, they will also tell you that many of the girls have sexual abuse and/or poor parenting skills in their background," she said.
According to "Facts of Teen Life," abuse is the "often unspoken link... 60-76 percent of pregnant teens who choose to parent have a history of abuse! It is believed this is because the trauma of abuse may adversely affect the whole developmental process, lower self-esteem or teach the teen to emphasize self-worth based on sexuality..."
In "Facts of Teen Life," another possible culprit is the media.
"The average teen-ager watches five hours of TV per day with 2.4 sex acts per hour during the daytime and 1.4 sex acts per hour during the evenings (14,000 sex acts per year)..." according to the newsletter.
"Close to 90 percent of the sexual activity portrayed in soaps (a favorite of teens) is between unmarried persons and yet it unrealistically results in no negative consequences such as disease or pregnancy."
While pregnancy is likely among sexually active teens, diseases are also a worry. Aside from non-life threatening diseases, there have been 36 positive tests for HIV (the precursor for AIDS) in Deschutes County, according to "Facts of Teen Life."
But teens are not swayed by such concerns. It is not until the demands of an infant are experienced does the new mother realize that she may have made a terrible mistake.
"Some are starting to realize (what their new responsibilities will involve) but you cannot tell them that up front," nurse Stover said.
Nor can you tell them that the experience of childbirth is often not a romantic affair.
"Several of the (Sisters) girls have delivered and they have not been perfect deliveries. It has opened the eyes of some of the others," said Stover.
And perhaps this information, from teen to teen, has had the greatest impact.
There have been no new student pregnancies reported in Sisters since February.
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