Teen pregnancy on the rise in Sumner, experts
say
Catelynn Lowell and Tyler Baltierra of MTV's "Teen Mom," addressed
local high-school students when they visited Hendersonville in January of 2010.
The two will speak at Long Hollow Baptist Church on Friday, May 13. They are
pictured here with Heather Burns (left) of Decisions, Choices and Options. /
FILE PHOTO
What: Teen
pregnancy forum: What every parent should knowWhen: Friday, May 13; dessert and coffee at 6:30-7 p.m.; forum at 7 p.m.
Where: Long Hollow Baptist Church, 3031 Long Hollow Pike in
HendersonvilleHow much: Free and open to the public
For more information, visit decisionschoicesandoptions.org.
In 2009, 257 Sumner County girls ages 10-19
dealt with an unplanned pregnancy.
This and other statistics have inspired a
local pregnancy-awareness organization and a high school to c0-host a teen
pregnancy forum with the topic of “What every parent should know” on Friday,
May 13 at Long Hollow Baptist Church in Hendersonville.
The event aims to create a panel discussion
between the public and guest speakers, such as Catelynn Lowell and Tyler
Baltierra of the MTV series “16 & Pregnant” and “Teen Mom,” educators and
experts, to ultimately address the life-changing consequences of teen
pregnancy.
“Within the last two years, I have seen
more pregnant girls than I’ve seen in nine years,” said Joi Wasill, founder of
Hendersonville-based Decisions, Choices and Options, a teen-pregnancy
educational program that is hosting the May 13 event.
“We really want to encourage parents of
middle- and high school-aged students to come and learn how to talk to their
children about the long-term effects a teen pregnancy can have on a family.
Data shows that the No. 1 influence on teens’ sexual behavior is their
parents.”
Tennessee
ranks 8th in teen births
According to the latest available data from
2011 from the Division of Health Statistics’ Office of Policy, Planning and
Assessment at the Tennessee Department of Health, 257 Sumner girls ages 10-19
were pregnant in 2009.
That number reflects national data from the
National Center for Health Statistics that also reported in 2010 that Tennessee
ranks eighth in the number of girls ages 15-19 who give birth in their teens,
which excludes younger mothers.
Wasill is one of several volunteers who
speak at 52 high schools in Sumner and six other Middle Tennessee counties
about the three options available to pregnant teens: parenting, abortion and
adoption. The idea for the forum, however, came from students in a family and
consumer science class at Beech High School in Hendersonville.
“The students approached us about this,”
Wasill said. “We did not approach them.”
For the past nine years, however, Wasill
and her fellow advocates, have been addressing pregnancy with teens. And one of
the most striking facts they have learned is the lack of knowledge of teen
pregnancy consequences among children and parents.
“They don’t understand that if they decide
to have sex, become pregnant and a parent, that will affect them educationally,
financially and socially for the rest of their lives,” Wasill said. “One of the
many things they need to be aware of is that the educational attainment for a
teen mom is very bleak.”
Few
teen moms earn college diplomas before age 30
Only 38 percent of teen mothers graduate
from high school, and fewer than 2 percent earn college degrees by the age of
30, according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.
“The daughters of teen mothers are three
times more likely to become teen mothers themselves,” Wasill said. “And the
sons of teen mothers have a 3 to 13 percent higher incarceration rate. They
have so much misinformation about what’s going to happen, and that’s why the
goal of our program is to educate parents, who can then educate their
children.”
