Panel: Cost steep for teen mothers

Panelists Grant Tennille (left), Alice Mahony and Dr. Creshelle Nash lead a discussion Wednesday at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock about the state’s women and girls based on findings from reports released by the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas.
Panelists Grant Tennille (left), Alice Mahony and Dr. Creshelle Nash lead a discussion Wednesday at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock about the state’s women and girls based on findings from reports released by the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas.

Arkansas will be stronger economically and have a higher college graduation rate if teen pregnancy is aggressively addressed and more women take seats at the policy table, panelists said during a discussion Wednesday at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock.

The event coincided with the public release of three reports -- "Delivering Better Education," "Our Common Journey" and "The Voices of Women" -- from the Women's Foundation of Arkansas that addresses barriers in a 21st-century education for the state's women and girls.

The reports -- written by Lynette Watts, executive director of the foundation; Kristen Jozkowski, assistant professor of Community Health Promotion and affiliate faculty in gender studies in the College of Education & Health Professions at the University of Arkansas; and Mara D'Amico, Hillary Rodham Clinton Communications Fellow at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security -- examine the effect of teen pregnancy and birth on education, the perceived status of women, and the links between education of women and girls to the state's economic future.

In 2012, 4,310 Arkansas girls ages 15-19 gave birth, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the report "Delivering Better Education," Jozkowski and D'Amico say that Arkansas has the third-highest teen birth rate and teen pregnancy rate in the nation, yet Arkansas is one of only 14 states that do not require schools to provide sex education.

Nationally, about half of teen mothers finish high school by age 22, which is four years later than the typical graduation age of 18, the report states. Furthermore, less than 2 percent of teen mothers will graduate from college by age 30, Jozkowski said during the discussion.

That statistic translates into a loss of economic development dollars to the state, she added.

"Because fewer Arkansas teens are completing high school and going on to college, the population of the state will be less educated, less prepared and less competitive in the workforce, which impedes earnings potential and increases the need for federal and state support," the report states.

Panelist Grant Tennille, executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, said the reports give a set of facts on which to build a stronger response to the issues. And men need to become a bigger part of the solution, he added.

"We have to admit that we have a problem and we're not there yet," Tennille said.

Panelist Dr. Creshelle Nash, a professor in the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, said the level of sexual activity in media and the lack of sex education in schools directly affects the state's high rate of teenage pregnancies.

The abstinence programs currently offered in public K-12 schools aren't effectively addressing the problem, the panelists said.

"We need to do a better job in our school system," said Alice Mahony, vice president and co-founder of the El Dorado Education Foundation and a member of the Arkansas Board of Education.

When asked after the meeting, a group of seniors from eStem Public Charter High School in Little Rock said that schools need to offer more comprehensive sex education that includes discussions about birth control and sexually transmitted disease prevention.

"'Don't do it' doesn't work. Whether they say don't do it or not, it's still going to happen. We should work more on getting the proper tools, as in essentials like IUDs rather than birth control pills and condoms," said Erica Campbell, 18, of North Little Rock. "I think that would be more effective than telling kids, 'Oh, don't have sex, you'll get pregnant.'"

There should be more emphasis on male responsibility in preventing teen pregnancies, said Justin Rodgers, 18, of Little Rock and Joseph Paul, 18, of Pine Bluff.

"Men should be taught more. They know the consequences of having a child, but they just don't take it to heart like a woman does. A man can deny a child is his, but a woman cannot," Paul said.

Rodgers said greater responsibility is put on women to prevent pregnancy because society tells them they have the "ultimate say-so on whether or not they want to have sex or not."

Maggie Israel, 18, of Little Rock, said she was heartened by the release of the reports by the foundation. There needs to be more frequent discussion about all issues -- not just teen pregnancy -- that bar women from success, she added.

"I think it's just really important that we're talking about it," Israel said. "For the longest time, the unspoken expectation was that men will go off and do the work. Even when you imagine being a scientist or an engineer, the pictures are always a man in a lab coat, but never a woman. And I think a lot of women do stop and have kids, but there's not really an expectation for them to succeed like men do. I think it's really good that we're talking about it in a medically accurate, evidence-based session."

State Desk on 10/30/2014

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