In 1990, Rochester
made a “top-city” list. But it wasn’t for best restaurants, quality of life, or
employment opportunities. Out of 7,730 teenage girls ages 15 to 19, nearly
1,000 had babies. That distinguished Rochester as having the highest
teen-pregnancy rate in the state and one of the highest in the country.
Most of the girls lived in the city’s poorest neighborhoods.
The good news: The rate has been declining. While the number
of teenage girls remained about the same through 2004, the number of births
dropped to 559. (Officials at Metro Council for Teen Potential, a national
non-profit that tracks teen-pregnancy data, are still compiling numbers for
2005.)
But 559 is still a high number. And figuring out how to
reach inner-city teenage girls is critical — both for the girls and for the
community. In 2002, 18 percent of all the babies born were to teenage mothers
living in the city, Metro Council reports. That’s enough to fill more than a
dozen Rochester school-district kindergarten classes.
“We have a long way to go, but it’s no accident that these numbers are coming down,” says Steve
Aronson of Planned Parenthood of the Rochester-Syracuse Region. “We are finding
— as are most agencies across the country — that age-appropriate, honest
conversations about sex and reproduction are the first line of defense.”
Since the mid-90’s, Aronson says, agencies like Planned
Parenthood have taken a multi-faceted approach to the problem, starting with
expanded access to health care in schools for teenagers.
Planned Parenthood surveys indicate that teenagers see
doctors as the most reliable source for sex-education information, says
Aronson. “They feel the relationship is personal and confidential, and that
allows them to open up and talk about what is going on in their lives,” he
says.
With parents, Aronson says, the goal is to increase
engagement, because research shows that parents don’t talk to their children
about sex as much as they think they do. “We want to not only increase the
information flow, but increase the frequency of conversations,” he says. “This
is not just a one-time thing.”
It’s important, says Aronson, to get teenagers from poor
families to see the link between having children too early and a limited
future.
“A lot of these kids haven’t thought about the future,” says
Aronson. “They don’t have goals. They don’t know what they like and dislike.
That’s why it is so important to start early with touring a college,
volunteering at a school or nursing home, painting a mural, or creating a
video. We have to make it clear to them that if you think you want to go to
college and become a teacher, having a baby is going to make it much more
difficult for you to attain that goal.”
That’s the approach taken
by LaMarr Powell, program manager for In Control, a youth-advocacy agency on
West Main Street.
In Control’s counselors try to get teenagers to accept more
responsibility for their choices, says Powell. Building a sense of self-worth
instead of just letting life happen to them is one method. The youths at In
Control learn how to create the videos and public-service announcements that
publicize the agency. They develop computer skills and explore fields that
interest them for career options.
“A higher self-esteem means you are going to respect your
body,” says Powell. “Life is important to you. There are things you want to do
with your life.”
Both Aronson and Powell say they are encouraged by programs
like Keeping It Real, a campaign designed to deliver frank, accurate
information on sexuality and reproduction to young African Americans.
The Rev. Carlton Veazey created Keeping it Real when he saw
how hard the African-American community was being hit by teen pregnancies and
sexually transmitted infections. Veazey, president of the Washington, DC-based
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, disagrees with the many
African-American clergy members who insist on abstinence-only messages.
Keeping It Real has been presented to clergy, educators, and
health workers around the country. Veazey has just been asked to take the
program to South Africa, and he is presenting it in Rochester on September 12
in an event sponsored by Planned Parenthood.
“If we are trying to save lives, I say we must break the
silence,” Veazey said in an interview with City last week. “No, we are not
advocating casual sex. We are very openly saying abstinence is preferred.
Abstinence is the safest. But we are also saying: realistically speaking,
abstinence doesn’t work for everyone. We must provide comprehensive sex
education to our young people so they protect themselves.”
The Rev. Carlton Veazey will discuss his Keeping It Real
initiative at 5 p.m. on Tuesday,
September 12, at the MemorialArtGallery auditorium. The talk is
sponsored by Planned Parenthood of the Rochester-Syracuse Region and is open to
the public. Tickets are $25, free for students. Seating is limited.
This article appears in Aug 23-29, 2006.
