[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 64 (Tuesday, May 19, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H3480-H3481]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       PREVENTING TEEN PREGNANCY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I am pleased to 
have the time to speak here today about the importance of preventing 
teen pregnancy, and I think it is crucially important that we recognize 
this month as Teen Pregnancy Prevention month.
  As a member of the Women's Congressional Caucus and the Chair of the 
Children's Congressional Caucus, I have been a strong advocate of teen 
pregnancy prevention.
  I recently offered an amendment to H.R. 2264, a labor and 
appropriations bill which was to increase funding by $2 million for 
teen pregnancy programs sponsored by the CDC.
  The consequences of teenage pregnancy and child-bearing are serious 
and contribute to many of the nation's enduring social problems.
  Becoming pregnant and having a baby early in life makes it difficult 
to create an emotionally and financially sound environment for 
children.

[[Page H3481]]

  Yet every year, approximately one million teenagers in this country 
become pregnant and 90 percent of those pregnancies are unintended.
  Teenage girls have a higher risk of pregnancy complications, 
including maternal mortality and morbidity, miscarriages, still births, 
premature births and nutritional deficiencies than adult women.
  Fewer than 60% of these teen mothers graduate from high school by age 
25, and in addition to a lower educational status, early childbearing 
has an impact on the economic status of teens by affecting employment 
opportunities, marital options, and family structure.

  Teen mothers are four times as likely as women who have their first 
child after adolescence to be poor in their 20's and early thirties, 
and are likely to have lower family incomes later in life.
  In my home state of Texas, the birth rate for teenagers 15-18 years 
of age is 78.9%.
  Although this is a decrease by 3.9% since 1991, far too many of our 
communities' children across the United States are having children of 
their own.
  Teenage pregnancy and childbearing come hand in hand with a levels of 
risk for all involved.
  We all carry the potential burden when children themselves have 
children, personally, societally and economically.
  Our country spends more than $20 billion dollars each year assisting 
teen parents and their children.
  Only through education and programs such as campaigns such as The 
National Campaign to Prevent Pregnancy, and a similar program through 
the Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas that focuses on the 
prevention of pregnancy in pre-adolescents and adolescents.
  Our children and our adolescents carry the future of tomorrow. We 
must do everything we can to help our children prolong childbearing and 
parenting until they can truly be responsible adults and parents.

                          ____________________