Teen Pregnancy In Tulare County

Third-World Pregnancy Rates in the US - Teen pregnancy in Tulare County

Tulare is an agricultural county in California with the second highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation. Eighteen percent of white teens live below the poverty line and their birth rate is 50 per 1,000, at least 10 times that of the lowest birth rate in the country where teens live above the poverty line.

The population that suffers most in terms of poverty and teen pregnancy in Tulare County, though, are the Latino girls. School officials confirm that over 80 percent of students are Hispanic and these adolescents account for nearly 70 percent of teenage births in the 15- to 18-year old group. Many of these teenage girls are children of migrant farm-workers and many of them live well below the poverty line. Forty percent of Tulare’s Latino girls are poor, and the rate of teen pregnancy in Tulare County among this population is over 100 per 1,000 women; this number is similar to rates seen in underdeveloped nations.

Indeed, one does not have to go to underdeveloped nations to find the close association between teen pregnancy and extreme poverty, which many experts say is essentially at the root of concerns regarding teen pregnancy. Rural communities in California have long suffered poverty and socio-economic isolation. One of the results of this situation is the extreme rarity of teen reproductive health care and medical services; also very rare are school-based teen clinics and comprehensive sex education services, initiatives which have proven to be effective in combating the problems of teenage pregnancy in other locations. One of the results of this scarcity of government aid seems to be the high rate of teen pregnancy in Tulare County. Barriers due to culture and language also cause problems when trying to relate to and communicate with Latino migrant and seasonal farm-worker families, as well as populations of other ethnic groups.

According to the Census Bureau, alongside the high rate of teen pregnancy in Tulare County, this area has the fifth highest percentage of poverty and the third-highest percentage of people with less than a high school diploma in the country. Within California, Tulare County has the highest percentage of poverty, unemployment, and lack of education. A frightening statistic is that close to two-thirds of the population under 18 in this county live below 200 percent of poverty, and this is the highest rate in the state; surprisingly enough, Tulare is the leading agricultural producer in the country, yet poverty and its effects, such as teen pregnancy, in Tulare County run rampant.

There is a frightening lack of access to proper health care services, due to the absence of health insurance, low socio-economic status, and limited resources in many of the migrant farm-worker families. The population of this county has in fact been designated as a Medically Underserved Population and many areas in the county have been designated as primary care Health Professional Shortage Areas. Measures are being taken to bring basic health care services, including those dealing with women’s health, to this population.

News About Teenage Pregnancy

Teen births decline in Texas 29 Jul 2010 at 3:02pm
In Texas, 64 of every 1,000 births are from teenage mothers - with the national rate at 43 births per 1,000.

Facial spots outstaying teen stage? 29 Jul 2010 at 9:13am
Spots were once the scourge of hormonal teenage years, a skin problem that was thank-fully kissed goodbye come adulthood. But for a growing number of British women, that is not the case.

Amy Bernays: Motherhood 29 Jul 2010 at 3:21pm
She had really long legs, looked a bit like a turkey, with a very small comb and a tentative step in her gate.

Quezon City court junks case vs sex ed 29 Jul 2010 at 4:30pm
A Quezon City court yesterday dismissed a civil case against the education department?s sex education program after the petitioning group itself moved to withdraw the complaint.

Modern families 29 Jul 2010 at 1:38pm
Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt ...

B/A holds regional youth forum 29 Jul 2010 at 10:14am
Sunyani, July 29, GNA - Mr. Kwadwo Nyamekye Marfo, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, has said the government had awarded contract for the construction of classroom blocks in 21 Senior High Schools(SHS) in the region to cater for the four year Senior High School programme due to start in September.

YOUR COMMENTS 28 Jul 2010 at 11:39am
Four years ago, the county's death rate for black infants was so high that it exceeded state and national levels.

Shared FUEL Receives $25,000 Grant from Hoblitzelle Foundation 28 Jul 2010 at 6:42pm
Dallas - Shared FUEL, a nonprofit founded by three East Dallas neighbors to ignite sustainable change, today announced that it has received a $25,000 grant from the Hoblitzelle Foundation to develop a bilingual gardening education program for Promise of Peace, whose mission is to decrease gang participation and the dropout rate among East Dallas teens through a community garden located at 7446 ...

Moonridge teens host sex talk 28 Jul 2010 at 1:08pm
The birds and the bees are about the last thing most teenagers want to talk about with their parents. But what happens when parents are more cagey about sex than their children?

Grant hopes to aid teen parents 28 Jul 2010 at 3:43pm
A three-year grant for $187,000 is designed to help Grand Island Senior High keep teen parents and parents-to-be in high school until they graduate.