Teen pregnancies decreasing
WASHINGTON (AP) —
American teen-agers are having
fewer babies, including a dramatic
decrease among black girls to the
lowest rate on record, the govern
ment said Thursday.
Teen birth rates are down in
every state. The reasons: less sex
and more birth control, statistics
indicate.
Black teen birth rates fell by 21
percent between 1991 and 1996. In
1996,9.2 percent of black teen-age
girls gave birth, the lowest since the
government began keeping that sta
tistic.
“The African-American com
munity has done a wonderful job
with their own young people,” said
Donna Shalala, the secretary of
health and human services. “Their
strategy of parents, community
leaders, religious leaders and
schools all sending the same con
sistent message that young blacks
are cutting off their future if they
have children is working.”
Hispanic teens are now most
likely to give birth, though their
rates also fell, from 10.7 percent in
1995 to 10.2 percent in 1996, the
first significant drop since 1991.
Despite the decreases, teen
birth rates among both minority
groups remain more than double
that of white teen-agers, which
have been steadily declining since
1991. In 1995, the latest year avail
able for non-Hispanic whites, 3.9
percent of those teens had babies.
Conception of problems
Shalala noted that the problems
go deep into the socioeconomic
landscape of minority communi
ties, where too many teen-agers
feel little hope for the future.
“If you think you have a future,
you put off having babies,” she said
in an interview.
Nearly half a million American
teen-agers give birth each year. In
1996, there was about one birth for
every 20 girls ages 15 to 19, down
11.9 percent since 1991, according
to the analysis released Thursday
by the National Center for Health
Statistics.
Most teen mothers are 18 or 19,
but the rates dropped most dramati
cally among girls 15 to 17.
Experts attribute the decline to
less sexual activity among boys and
girls and greater use of birth con
trol in the age of AIDS.
In 1995, sexual activity among
American teens dropped for the
first time since the government
began tracking information in
1970. Fifty percent of girls had sex
in 1995, down from 55 percent in
1990. The rate for boys dropped
from 60 percent in 1988 to 55 per
cent in 1995.
At the same time, teen-agers
who have sex are more likely to use
contraceptives, particularly con
doms.
State divisions
Thursday’s report comes amid
intense efforts to reduce teen sex
and pregnancy.
States are competing to see
which can most dramatically
reduce out-of-wedlock births, with
winners sharing $100 million each
year. And the 1996 welfare reform
law gives states $50 million each
year for programs to promote absti
nence.
The National Campaign to
Prevent Teen Pregnancy is working
with television networks to pro
mote anti-pregnancy messages
while it aids communities with
their own programs.
On Thursday, the organization
released a brochure to help parents
become closer to their teen-agers,
arguing that research shows teens
are less likely to have sex — and
more likely to use birth control if
they do — if their parents are
involved in their lives.
The highest teen birth rate was
recorded in 1957, when nearly one
in 10 girls gave birth. The rate was
significantly higher throughout the
1950s and 1960s, but in those days
the mothers were much more likely
to be married. In 1950, just 23 per
cent of mothers 15 to 17 were
unmarried; in 1996, it was 84 per
cent.
Recycle Your Textbooks at
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Nebraska Bookstore wants bought your books, we'll
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May 10,1998. |||jj|gyggg|
Political science
professor resigns
RESIGN from page 1
Theiss-Morse, and other politi
cal science professors, point to a
review completed by Omaha attor
ney Amy Longo, which they say
exonerated Forsythe and the depart
ment.
Though Theiss-Morse said she
has not read the Longo report, from
what she’s heard the report said there
was not a “chilly” climate for
women.
Schwebach’s attorney, Thom
Cope, said there was a second inves
tigation conducted by the Nebraska
Equal Opportunity Commission
after the complaint was filed.
The commission’s study, Cope
said, relied on information provided
by the university, and did not “go
into detail.”
“The problems within that
department would be something that
would take a lot more analysis than
what the NEOC gave it,” Cope told
the Daily Nebraskan last week.
Despite what some political sci
ence professors said, Schwebach and
her attorney insist the NEOC and
Longo reports are flawed. He said
the department ignored problems
with sexual harassment instead of
dealing with them.
Through discussions about the
reports and her resignation,
Schwebach said she hoped the uni
versity would be more sensitive to
sexual harassment and its impact on
women.
(Schwebach is) a good
researcher and a good
teacher. It will be a loss
to the department
Elizabeth Theiss-Morse
political science professor
Schwebach said she was so dis
heartened by the university’s lack of
response to her complaints, that she
plans to leave academia altogether.
Even those who disagree with
her claims say that Schwebach’s
teaching will be missed at UNL.
“She’s a good researcher and a
good teacher,” Theiss-Morse said.
“It will be a loss to the department.”
Schwebach said she would miss
teaching students and researching.
She said because of her childhood in
Iran and other experiences abroad, it
was her destiny to teach internation
al relations.
But she just couldn’t withstand
the hostile climate, she said.
“I filed the complaint last June,”
Schwebach said, “and hoped to
improve the climate. Now I don’t
know what to think.
“I doubt that anything will ever
change.”
Kerrey: Spending practices
of Democrats must change
BOSTON (AP) - Democratic
National Committee spending prac
tices are hindering chances of the
party gaining any seats in the Senate
in November, said U.S. Sen. Bob
Kerrey.
The committee cannot afford
national ads to help Senate candi
dates because it spent so much get
ting President Clinton and Vice
President A1 Gore re-elected, and on
later legal bills, he told The Boston
Globe.
Kerrey, who heads the
Democratic Senatorial Campaign
Committee, and Gore could compete
for the Democratic presidential nom
ination in 2000.
Since 1996, the Democratic
National Committee has been the
political arm of the White House,
Kerrey said.
“It’s not even an arm,” he said. “It
is two arms, two legs and the whole
body, all the moving parts. It is a
wholly owned subsidiary of the
White House.”
Steve Jarding, Kerrey’s national
political director, said the senator’s
statements should not be construed to
mean that Kerrey is trying to distance
himself from Gore for a possible run
for president.
Kerrey was in committee hear
ings Thursday and did not immedi
ately return a call from The
Associated Press seeking comment.
Democrats hold only 45 of the
Senate’s 100 seats, and observers told
the Globe the party could lose one or
more of them.
There will be 34 Senate races in
November. Democrats now hold 18
of those seats, and three Democrats
will not seek re-election.
Republicans have 16 of the seats and
two of their senators will retire.
Kerrey wants the party’s national
committee to pay for advertising in
the Senate contests to make it more of
a national campaign highlighting
Democrats’ accomplishments.
“If I had generic advertisements
running through the DNC, like we
did in ’95 and ’96 to support the pres
ident by telling people what
Democratic policies had produced,
I’d be more optimistic,” Kerrey said.
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