News Release - Teen Pregnancy


HHS NEWS
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE              Contact:  HHS Press Office
January 6, 1997                              (202) 690-6343

           SECRETARY SHALALA LAUNCHES NATIONAL STRATEGY
 TO PREVENT TEEN PREGNANCY; NEW STATE-BY-STATE DATA SHOW DECLINES IN 
TEEN BIRTH RATES


     HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala today launched the National 
Strategy to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, a comprehensive new plan to 
prevent teen pregnancies and support and encourage adolescents to 
remain abstinent.  In launching the strategy, the Secretary cited new 
data showing that the majority of states experienced a decline in 
teen birth rates from 1991 to 1994.

     The new effort is in response to a call from the President and 
Congress for a national strategy to prevent out-of-wedlock teen 
pregnancies and to a directive, under the welfare law signed by 
President Clinton in August, to assure that at least 25 percent of 
communities in this country have teen pregnancy prevention programs 
in place.  According to today's report, HHS estimates that 
HHS-supported programs alone already reach at least 30 percent, or 
about 1,410, communities across the country.

     "This critical strategy expands on the many innovative programs 
and public-private partnerships the Clinton Administration has 
supported to prevent teen pregnancy," Secretary Shalala said. 
"Preventing teen pregnancy has always been a top priority of the 
Clinton Administration and we are encouraged that teen birth rates 
are starting to decline.  However, we are committed to strengthening 
ongoing efforts to engage every community in America to work together 
to prevent teen pregnancy and send a strong message to our children 
that postponing sexual activity, staying in school, and preparing to 
work are the right things to do."

     The new strategy will strengthen the Department's ongoing 
efforts to assure that every community in the country is working to 
prevent out-of-wedlock teen pregnancies by:  increasing opportunities 
through welfare reform; supporting promising approaches; building 
public-private partnerships; improving data collection, research and 
evaluation; and disseminating information on innovative and effective 
practices.

     The national strategy will place a special emphasis on 
encouraging abstinence, especially among 9- to 14-year-old girls, 
through HHS' new Girl Power! campaign.  The Girl Power! abstinence 
education initiative will engage all HHS teen pregnancy prevention 
and related youth programs in sustained efforts to promote abstinence 
among 9- to 14-year-old girls, and it will include a national media 
campaign to involve parents and caring adults in sending a strong 
abstinence message across the country.

                               - 2 -

     The Department of Health and Human Services currently supports a 
variety of efforts to help communities develop comprehensive teen 
pregnancy prevention strategies that reflect five principles:  
parental and adult involvement; strong messages of abstinence and 
personal responsibility; clear strategies for young people's futures; 
involvement by all facets of the community; and a sustained 
commitment to young people.

     Recent declines in the teen birth rate, and indications of 
further declines in the teen pregnancy rate, suggest that the teen 
pregnancy prevention efforts taking place across the country are 
having a positive impact.

     According to the latest state-by-state statistics on teen 
births, 37 states had a sustained decline in their teen birth rates 
between 1991 and 1994.  Twenty-one of these states had declines of 
between 5 and 10 percent, and 10 states had declines of more than 10 
percent over this period.  Overall, the birth rate for teens aged 
15-19 declined for the fourth straight year, decreasing by 8 percent 
between 1991 and 1995.

     Each year about 200,000 teenagers aged 17 and younger have 
children.  Their babies are often low-birth weight and have 
disproportionately high infant mortality rates.  They are also far 
more likely to be poor.  Estimates indicate that over half the 
mothers who receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) 
were teenagers when they had their first child.

     Therefore, preventing teen pregnancy has been a critical part of 
the Clinton Administration's approach to welfare reform and efforts 
to strengthen American families.

     Under the new welfare law, unmarried minor parents will be 
required to live with a responsible adult or in an adult-supervised 
setting and participate in educational and training activities in 
order to receive assistance.  Starting in FY 1998, the welfare law 
also provides $50 million a year in new funding for state abstinence 
education activities.  In addition, the new law includes the tough 
child support enforcement measures President Clinton proposed in 
1994, which will send the strongest possible message to young girls 
and boys that they should not have children until they are ready to 
provide for them.

     Last year, President Clinton challenged parents and leaders to 
join together in a national campaign against teen pregnancy.  A group 
of prominent Americans responded to that challenge, forming the 
National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.  HHS will work with the 
National Campaign in implementing the new national strategy to 
prevent teen pregnancy.


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