Group puts focus on preventing teen pregnancy
By Diette Courrégé
The Post and Courier
Otha Meadows of the Charleston Trident Urban League talks about teen pregnancy as Janet Stevens, former chair of the Charleston County Teen Pregnancy Prevention Council, looks on during a news conference Thursday at Florence Crittenton.
Video
Teen Pregnancy
Andrea Thomas and Erica Carter speak about teen pregnancy in the Charleston area.
Audio clip
Nancy Cook
If you go
The Charleston County Teen Pregnancy Prevention Council hosts workshops for parents to learn how to talk to teens about sex, pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
The next workshop will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Baptist Hill High School, 5117 Baptist Hill Road, Hollywood.
For more information, call 843-460-5033.
Reservations are appreciated, and dinner is provided.
Workshops also will be held in May in North Charleston and downtown Charleston.
Teen pregnancy prevention — not talk of sterilization — needs to be embraced by the community to impact the problem of high dropout rates, according to the Charleston County Teen Pregnancy Prevention Council.
The sex education advocates highlighted prevention as the solution Thursday in the wake of a controversial comment by school board Vice Chairwoman Nancy Cook on the radio last week. Cook suggested that unfit parents should be sterilized and have their babies taken from them.
The council seized on Cook's comment to try to galvanize the community to direct more resources and efforts toward the problem of teen pregnancy.
"The council seeks to ensure that, in the midst of this controversy, our community does not lose sight of the initial concern that led to those remarks: the unacceptably high rate of teen pregnancy in Charleston County," said Janet Stevens, former chair of the Charleston County Teen Pregnancy Prevention Council. "To reduce teen pregnancy in Charleston County, schools, faith-based organizations, parents and governments must come together to provide our children with comprehensive sexuality education."
Stevens said the council did not agree with what Cook said but did not take a position as to what Cook should do. The council understood the outrage at Cook's statements, given the history of the issue in South Carolina, Stevens said.
The Charleston NAACP earlier this week asked for Cook to apologize or resign from the school board. Cook has not apologized. She is a licensed counselor and runs a homeless shelter for women, children and homeless veterans. After the broadcast, she clarified her remark: "Clearly, to suggest that I would be for such a radical idea would be against my morals, beliefs, and life work."
The council emphasized that teen pregnancy is a serious problem in this community and that it's a primary symptom of poverty and social ills. Greg Liotta is executive director of Florence Crittenton, which offers a residential and day program to single pregnant teens to get prenatal care and education. The girls who go there often are homeless, abused, depressed or suicidal, he said.
One-third of Charleston County high-school dropouts are pregnant teenagers, and the state's teen pregnancy rate of 52 per 1,000 is considerably higher than the national average of 41 per 1,000, according to the council.
Council members, which included the Charleston Trident Urban League and the It's Up to Me program, called on each part of the community to do its part to prevent teen pregnancies. Schools are required to teach about abstinence and contraceptives, but teachers often don't do those lessons, Stevens said. Officials should ensure that instruction takes place, she said.
Faith-based communities can have programs to get parents and teens talking about sexuality issues, and local and state governments can give more money to pay for classes for teachers on reproductive health and for pregnancy-prevention programs, Stevens said. Parents also can talk to their children about sexuality and values, she said.
Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@post andcourier.com.
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Comments
moonpie (anonymous) says...
You hit it CB! And guess what else it's not just a pregnancy issue, it's a generation that has been raised to live and depend on welfare. These babies/dependents are used to give themself a "pay raise". Why else would un-wed mothers have 4 or 5 kids like our Gadsen Green two? Someone that's going to cry racism this morning please explain that for me. You have to know that with trying to raise 5 kids on your own your headed for a life of poverty and sect 8 housing the rest of your life! How appealing is that? I don't get it. This world has a lot to offer anyone that will work but these kids are dooming themselfs at a young age. It's not a race issue but predominately black women do this more often than any other group. 7 out of 10! or 70% for you that can cipher.
April 11, 2008 at 6:03 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
noradellova (anonymous) says...
All of us are aware of the dismal failure of the long-standing sex education programs; the one which espouse abstinance etc. There is no need to continue to revisit the mistakes of the past, unless we are going to learn from them in our effort to fix the problem. And to me, this is precisely the case. A clear and concise definition of the problem. Obviously the problem is not teenage pregnancy. This is the result. Until we see this as the result of a dysfunction, we will not be in a position to come up with a solution.
When I was a child growing up in Charleston County, if a boy liked a girl, and he wanted to date her, he was compelled to visit her in her home, where he would request permission from the father to visit his daughter. Of course this practice was popular for a number of social reasons, the least of which to establish legitimacy and accountability.
My point here is that there existed a strong sense of family "values" throughout the community.
Today we can still identify community, but the moral ascendancy has been lost.Consequently, there is no established set of values.
Instead of spending very valuable dollars and man hours on telling kids not to have sex; whether it is done in the school system, or through some non-profit, we must redirect our focus on the traditional nuclear family.
If the school system and non-profits are going to promote programs which are focused on reducing the teen pregnancy rate, then the programs should be more reality based.
I am not a booster of Mayor Keith Sumney of North Charleston, but I think he and his people have found a program idea, which is not a panacea at this juncture, but it has promise.
Anyone reading this and would like to explore with me the programmatic and implementation of such a plan. Please contact me.
April 11, 2008 at 6:20 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
theronce (anonymous) says...
With no help by anyone, children will know between 7 and 12 where babies come from and most probably one or two ways how to prevent it. With today's current education, I feel more sure that this is true. The difference between the pregnancy rate between "back in the day" and now reflects the change in attitudes, expectations, opportunity, and values. I have no faith in the government to do more about the opportunity or teach any kind of worthwhile values. Parents need to limit the opportunities and teach a reliable set of values. Government, with parents, should raise their expectations and act accordingly to the responses of the young people. The attitudes of the young may then change where they will mature and exercise restraint. Continually removing all of the consequences of these "mistakes" only encourages more of what we have now.
April 11, 2008 at 8:08 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
griff895 (anonymous) says...
Were Dot Scott, Joe Darby, Robert Ford in attendance to give support and advice? Seems earlier in the week they had all the answers!!
April 11, 2008 at 8:15 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ticket3477 (anonymous) says...
I know...make it a requirement that once a girl starts her cycle she gets mirena. Thats a 99.9% guarantee for 5 years that little kids wont be having any babies. It should be required just like the HPV vaccination should be required
April 11, 2008 at 9:04 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
theronce (anonymous) says...
Ticket3477, if the government required the action that you recommend, we would be depriving the children of their right to a natural bodily urge...and, horrors...potentially to their legal right to an abortion.
April 11, 2008 at 9:24 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mominthesouth (anonymous) says...
Why doesn't the NAACP find worthy things to fight. Like for instance why there is so much black on black crime.
I NEVER heard Ms. Cook say the work BLACK in her speech.
I have never been a fan of Nancy Cook but I will stand behind her on this situation. We have to start at the root of the problem. RACE does not enter into it. There are white girls all over pregnant in their teens. These kids go on Medicaid and guess who pays for that....We Do! They actually get money before the baby is born. It is like a business for them...get pregnant...get paid.
It is very sad!
April 11, 2008 at 9:50 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
CHRISJIII (anonymous) says...
This offers a much better and humane solution than that put forward by the school board's vice chair!
April 11, 2008 at 10:07 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
bohica (anonymous) says...
Hmm...Seems the "much better and humane solution" of treating pregnancy like a business is assisting with the ENTIRE COUNTRIES recession issues doesn't it? She didn't say sterilize teens, she said "UNFIT" parents. Has anyone seen the article on CNN about the 19 year old parents fighting over which gang their 4 year old will join?
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/...
I have nothing against sterilizing people like that.
April 11, 2008 at 10:23 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
UrGatorbait (anonymous) says...
When the american taxpayer truly wakes up and gets sick of funding these noble yet doomed to failure programs, than you might get some viable solutions, no rephrase that, actual results. If you don't demand accountability, you sure aren't going to get it. Our country has been gutted by greed and self centeredness. It's no shock.
The NAACP will IMO never address the black on black issues addressing the communities. It appears it is much easier to sit around and play the victim card. They are masters at pointing fingers away from their failures. They are in such a powerful position to actually affect positive results but instead point fingers and distract from their own shortcomings. They hamstring themselves and fail the people they could be doing wonderful things for in the name of politics and power trips. Sad
Unfit parents should be easy to figure out. Too bad some don't read the fine print or listen to what others say instead of dismissing ideas because they came from, dare I say, a white persons mouth or vice versa.
April 11, 2008 at 10:35 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LadyTarHeel (anonymous) says...
Ticket3477: I don't think they would be able to give young girls Mirena. I think that's only for older women who have had all the children they plan on having. It's removable if they change their minds. I think if you are going to go that route, you should use Depo, the patch, or the new Nuva ring. Both are highly effective and more geared toward younger people than an IUD.
I'm glad someone started to take a look at the root of the problem. As my daddy always says, big fires always start small. So, if you can extinguish this fire early, then there wont be a need to try to put it out later. I also think that parents should be actively involved in educating their children about sex and what can happen if you choose to engage in sexual activity. I know my parents did and it helped me to make an informed decision when I thought that I was ready.
I agree with UrGatorbait. The NAACP will never address black on black issues. They only feel relevent when someone does/says something "racist". I don't think that we as black people need protection from the big bad racists, we need protection from each other. And when I say that I mean, we need to figure out how to get drugs, crime, murder, and teen pregnacy under control before we go off trying to force someone to see that their racism is wrong. If they tried to implement change in our community, maybe so many people who are not black would not make comments like those made by Nancy Cook and others who still view blacks as lowly, second class citizens.
April 11, 2008 at 11:24 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
grannyofsix (anonymous) says...
why is it always the parents fault well maybe the parents should now sit in the classrooms to make sure the kid is in school dont let them date till they are 30 so keep them locked in the house with you but make sure if you go anywhere the kid goes with you now that sounds dumb right? it was a stupid post just like saying everytime a teen is in trouble it is the parents fault . Grant you in some cituations it could be the parents fault. but you know what a preachers son can rape and mangle a women just as a kid from the ghetto can is it the preachers fault as well that his son grew to be a rapist. maybe if the state would stay out of my back yard the parent could do what they can forthe kid . I have seen in an upscale store in Columbia a child was being fussed at by his mother and the kid about 8 looked at her and said go ahead and punish me i will call DSS so thats is what is going on. myself my kid tried that i spanked their butt and handed them the phone . So No Coldbeer it isnt always the parents fault.
April 11, 2008 at 12:16 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LadyTarHeel (anonymous) says...
Grannyofsix: I also tried the whole, "if you spank me I'm gonna call DSS" thing as well. My momma went in my room, packed my stuff, and handed me the phone. She said if I was gonna call them, then I had better find some place else to live because I wasn't coming back there. It's all about the amount of respect and fear you place in a child. I know my momma wasn't going to put me out, but it's the whole thought that I thought she would.
I know there has been alot of focus on young or teenaged parents. My parents were young, my mom was 18 and my dad was 26, but they always taught me to behave properly and to treat others the way I want to be treated, so it's not a young parent thing. It's a matter of what the parent learned when the parent was a child.
April 11, 2008 at 12:27 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
theronce (anonymous) says...
As far as I can tell, this sex education stuff is a relatively new thing in our world. If we needed all this education about sex, how did all these billions of people and all those billions before us get here without government education. I do not much care what most people in the world think about Americans, but this "need" for the government to teach children how to have and how not to have children has got to be funny.
April 11, 2008 at 1:03 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Jerry (anonymous) says...
Pregnant teens caused a raid in Texas. The government was interested in the welfare of children who may have been at risk.
Why do we NOT raid the house of a pregnant teen here in Charleston, to discover just how an underage girl became pregnant? It could be due to parental neglect, it could be someone taking advantage.
Get the fathers name, he should be responsible not ME!
Why does the leadership here in Charleston turn a blind eye?
It is too political when it should not be.
Wake-up politicians.
April 11, 2008 at 1:04 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
grannyofsix (anonymous) says...
how many here have ever been on a date without your parents? and, got to the back seat or on a beach under the boardwalk or a friends house who's parents werent home. and, without your parents knowledge tried to and maybe did get to get that home run. did your parents know WHAT YOU WERE DOING AT 14 15 16 17? or when you went to college please. yes it is getting bad but get a grip you guys have tried many times and i am sure got what you were after. only difference is when cought headed for the service and the girl got sent to a home for unwed mothers .
I am not saying what is happening today isnt wrong but it isnt new just more open then before it has always been a problem. but it isnt always the parents to blame. you want to go on a date with your daughter?
April 11, 2008 at 1:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
grannyofsix (anonymous) says...
let me rephrase that would you want to go with your daughter onnher date
April 11, 2008 at 1:30 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
grannyofsix (anonymous) says...
that is what i am trying to say allwoman that we can talk till we are blue in the face and prayer that they will follow what we tell them but, we cant babysit them once they are out in the dating world.
My brother inlaw would not let his daughter date till she was 17 no dates at all but when she turned 17 left high school and did her own thing as she put it she was going to have a baby in two months and her mother told her about sex and the danger of stds as well as getting pregnant.
her response was i am 17 i know what i am doing . i am sorry i got long winded on this again. but what i am saying is yes we have a problem and yes, i am tired of my taxes payng for all the babies being born multiable times to teens but short of forcing them to be sterlized after the second one there is nothing we can do they will continue to have s e x because of PEER PRESSURE
April 11, 2008 at 3:22 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Hey_U_Guys (anonymous) says...
BIRTH CONTROL IS FREE FREE FREE AT THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 11, 2008 at 3:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ticket3477 (anonymous) says...
It is free but you have to jump through hoops to get it for free and thats far to difficult for some people to grasp.
And who ever that was that said something to me about the legal right to abortion...it should be legal for anyone who needs it reguardless of age.
Also...I wasnt sure about teh age limits on Mirena...I was just saying that having a birthcontrol method put in place as a requirement would probably help. Not everyone thinks logically or makes sound decisions. When I was younger I knew better because Im not a moron...but my question is...
how does having birthcontrol required deny a child a natural body urge?
---what the hell?
April 11, 2008 at 3:42 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
theronce (anonymous) says...
Everyone has excuses and work-arounds for bad behavior. It is worse and will worsen.
April 11, 2008 at 3:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
AFWally (anonymous) says...
Man please.....they've been "focusing" alright.....how many more decades y'all need to focus?
April 11, 2008 at 4:09 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mkris (anonymous) says...
Sex Education in South Carolina is assinine. Abstinence and Sunday School. Result: Pregnant idiots spouting off about God, Country and how that never happened in my generation.
Free condoms in School.
April 11, 2008 at 6:35 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Hutch (anonymous) says...
Girls should be taught early in life by their parents
the right way to live. To be a Virgin until the marriage
bed. That is something to look forward to when a couple
is married and both of them is pure,like God intended.
April 11, 2008 at 8:30 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Fed_Up (anonymous) says...
I am not against what Ms. Cook said, HOWEVER, she is not as high up on her throne as she wants people to believe! A good question for Ms. Cook might be "was she ever expecting prior to marriage".......you might get a surprising answer. Although Ms. Cook is not mootching off of the state, she isn't as high and mighty financially as she comes off as and therefore should not through stones at glass houses!
April 12, 2008 at 1:17 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Jerry (anonymous) says...
IMO public education is NOT the answer. When people are raised not to value public education then you are wasting public resources and are delusional.
Look at Katrina in the Gulf. What you had is generational welfare. Most had been on assistance for so long that when the hurricane hit they were dazed and then many began raping and stealing from each other. "Where is George Bush?" No; Where are your leaders, your protectors, where are the MEN?
Why did they not come together as communities and protect their family, neighbors and friends?
Stealing a widescreen tv with no electricity, no shelter and then it gets wet?
What we saw is the result of simply paying people to DO nothing but have children. What was the real cost? dignity!
Check out the CDC. Blacks make up approx. 12% of the population but over 50% of all AID's cases?
I heard a black man in the laundry mat two weeks ago "10 babies by eight babies momma's" Well the girls don't need the fathers anymore. I along with the majority of society are paying the babies momma's. The children however DO need fathers.
AID's, drugs, crime, fatherless children, low wages due to Hispanics, Hispanic on black crime, black on black crime. I know Jessie, Al and Obama's Pastor Write "its the white mans fault" Well now isn't that an elegant solution to the problem.
"be made whole by the renewing of your mind" - Bible
You can't educate against someone's will.
April 28, 2008 at 5:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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