On Tuesday, a coalition of national and local advocacy groups announced a collaboration to lower the pregnancy rate and facilitate family planning decisions among Hispanic teens. The initiative emphasizes policies that provide support for Hispanic families, promote sexual health information and improve sex education.
The teen pregnancy rate among Hispanics is the highest of any U.S. ethnic group and nearly twice the national average for all teens, according to the National Council of La Raza's Institute for Hispanic Health. Fifty-two percent of Hispanic teens become pregnant before age 20, the institute reports. Hispanic teen pregnancy and birth rates rose between 2005 and 2006, marking the first increase since 1990, according to NCLR.
Maria Rosa, a NCLR vice president, said, "When a Latina teen becomes pregnant, this impacts her chances of graduating high school, having a successful career and improving her socio-economic status" (Costa, San Antonio Express-News, 6/29).
Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment