[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 115 (Thursday, July 28, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5019-S5020]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. BOXER:
  S. 1437. A bill to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services to carry out programs to provide youth in racial or ethnic 
minority or immigrant communities the information and skills needed to 
reduce teenage pregnancies; to the Committee on Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Communities 
of Color Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Act.
  Teen pregnancy is closely linked to a number of issues that affect 
the welfare of children in our Nation, particularly child poverty. A 
child in the United States is nine times more likely to grow up in 
poverty if their mother gave birth when she was a teen, if the child's 
parents are unmarried when they are born, and if the mother did not 
graduate from high school.
  The United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate of any 
developed nation. Each year close to 750,000 teens in the United States 
become pregnant. Despite some progress in reducing teen pregnancy 
overall, many minority communities continue to struggle with 
disproportionately high rates of teen pregnancy.
  Over half of all Latina and African American girls will become 
pregnant at least once before they turn 20. In 2009 the teen birth rate 
for Latinas, African Americans and American Indians/Alaska Natives was 
more than double the teen birth rate of non-Hispanic Caucasians.
  The Communities of Color Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Act takes would 
address teen pregnancy in communities of color by supporting teenage 
pregnancy prevention programs that work with community-based 
organizations that are experienced in serving youth

[[Page S5020]]

in ethnic and racial groups with the highest teen pregnancy rates; 
using multimedia campaigns to provide public health education and 
increase awareness about teen pregnancy, and researching what factors 
contribute to disproportionately high rates of teenage and unintended 
pregnancy in communities of color.
  I am proud that our country has made progress in reducing the rate of 
teen pregnancy by one third over the last decade, but our work is not 
done. We need to strengthen our efforts, especially among the youth in 
communities of color who are now so much more likely to face the 
unexpected and difficult challenges of parenting before they have 
finished growing up themselves.
  I am pleased to be joined in this effort by Representative Lucille 
Roybal-Allard, who is sponsoring this legislation in the House, as well 
as Hispanas Organized for Political Equality, the National Campaign to 
Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, the Futures Without Violence, and 
the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health.
  I urge my colleagues to join us in taking the next step forward in 
preventing teenage pregnancy by supporting this important legislation.
                                 ______