[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 67 (Friday, May 22, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E968-E969]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           TEENAGE PREGNANCY

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CONSTANCE A. MORELLA

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 22, 1998

  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, what have we done to childhood? We live in 
a world where every year, 1 million teen become pregnant, 3 million 
teen contract STDs, and HIV/AIDS is spreading most rapidly among 
adolescents.
  What will it take to convince teenagers--the ``it-will-never-happen-
to-me crowd''--that they can become pregnant and infected with STDs, 
including HIV infection?
  What will it take to convince community leaders, religious leaders, 
local and national leaders, pop culture stars, and parents that 
education and prevention strategies are critical?
  I am proud to join my colleague, Eva Clayton, with whom I have 
organized this special order, and other members of the Women's Caucus 
to shed light on the problem of teen pregnancy during National Teen 
Pregnancy Prevention Month. Although we have been fighting this problem 
for a long time and the problem seems insurmountable, I am energized 
and encouraged by recent trends and the efforts of so many outstanding 
organizations to combat teen pregnancy.
  I am proud to be a member of the Congressional Advisory Panel to the 
National Campaign. The leadership of the National Campaign to Prevent 
Teen Pregnancy and so many other groups have moved our Nation's 
consciousness about teen pregnancy to a higher level, and we are seeing 
results. The teenage birth rate has declined steadily since 1991 when 
the rate was 6.2 percent, an overall decline of 12 percent.
  Although it is encouraging that the teen birth rate is declining, we 
must celebrate cautiously. Out-of-wedlock births are increasing, and 
over 1 million teens become pregnant every year.
  Seventy-Five percent of teen births are out of wedlock today. In 
1960: 15 percent of teen births were out of wedlock. Today, teen 
mothers make up the largest group of all first births to unmarried 
women (48 percent). About 44 percent of all girls become pregnant at 
least once before age 20--more than one million girls per year--most of 
whom are unmarried and totally unprepared to take on the 
responsibilities of parenthood. One-third of these pregnancies end in 
abortion, and only 2 percent of teens who give birth choose to put 
their babies up for adoption.
  We know the consequences of teen pregnancy. Teen parents are much 
more likely to be trapped in a cycle of poverty. The opportunities lost 
to teens who become pregnant are enormous, and costs associated with 
teenage pregnancy drain limited federal, state, local and family 
resources.
  I want to highlight an important point about teen pregnancy: It is 
not enough to say we want to solve the problem of teen pregnancy; we 
must know how to fix it. We cannot solve the problem without sufficient 
information on what works in teen pregnancy prevention, and what works 
in different areas of the country. I commend my colleagues Nita Lowey 
and Mike Castle for their legislation, H.R. 1736, the Teenage Pregnancy 
Reduction Act of 1997, which will ensure that we have better 
information and provide for in-depth evaluation of teen pregnancy 
prevention programs.
  Today's message is a call to action. Although we don't have all the 
answers to solve the problem; it's clear that we simply cannot wait.
  As Members of Congress, we must do more. If figuring out what works, 
we must look at why teenage girls become pregnant.
  What is it about our society that makes teenage girls think that 
to be loved, they must have a child of their own? Surely we can do 
better. Educational opportunities build self-esteem, as do girls' 
sports and community activities. Improving our education system, 
increasing access to girls' sports, building our communities, 
increasing job opportunities and giving young girls something to look 
forward to will all reduce teen pregnancy, and those are all areas 
where our decisions make a difference.

  We also have jurisdiction over federal programs that deal with 
teenage pregnancy: the

[[Page E969]]

Title X Family Planning Program, grants from the Centers for Disease 
Control for community projects, and the Adolescent and Family Life Act 
which provides a small grant that goes toward care and parenting for 
adolescent mothers and abstinence only education. These programs help, 
but they are clearly not enough.
  Although federal attention and involvement is important, we must 
become local leaders on this issue. Teen pregnancy is a national 
problem, but its solutions are local. We must go into our districts to 
see what works and encourage community involvement.
  There is not magic bullet. I have worked with Congresswoman Eva 
Clayton on this issue, and I can tell you that what works in her 
district in North Carolina is not what works in Montgomery County, 
Maryland.
  I have met with Elayne Bennett, founder of the Best Friends program, 
and several of her students. I must be honest; I was very skeptical of 
abstinence-only prevention efforts. Her results in my district, 
however, have been amazing. The Best Friends program is not a quick 
fix. It works because mentors make a long-term investment in junior 
high and high school girls, taking them on outings, teaching them new 
skills, and going to weekly classes with them. It won't work for 
everyone, but it is one of many approaches making a dent in this 
critical problem.
  Maryland's teen pregnancy rate ranks 13th nationally. There are 118 
pregnancies annually per 1,000 women aged 15-19 in Maryland; 43% result 
in live births and 29% result in abortions. The State of Maryland is 
making progress in reducing the number of pregnant teenagers through 
the Governor's Council on Adolescent Pregnancy. As part of their 
ongoing media campaign, they have developed a new series of ads 
focusing on parent-child communication as a means to prevent teen 
pregnancy, and they are holding a contest for teens to create teen 
pregnancy prevention slogans.
  I will continue to encourage my colleagues in Congress to make 
reducing teen pregnancy a priority by going back to their districts and 
encouraging community leaders, religious leaders, parents, business, 
the media, and local leaders to figure out what works. This is only the 
beginning of a dialogue between the Congress, the media, policy 
experts, state and local governments, and educators. It's time that we 
figure out what works in order to make a difference.

                          ____________________