News & Articles
Group puts focus on preventing teen pregnancy
April 11, 2008
Teen pregnancy prevention — not talk of sterilization — needs to be embraced by the community to impact the problem of high dropout rates, according to the Charleston County Teen Pregnancy Prevention Council.
The sex education advocates highlighted prevention as the solution Thursday in the wake of a controversial comment by school board Vice Chairwoman Nancy Cook on the radio last week. Cook suggested that unfit parents should be sterilized and have their babies taken from them.
The council seized on Cook's comment to try to galvanize the community to direct more resources and efforts toward the problem of teen pregnancy.
"The council seeks to ensure that, in the midst of this controversy, our community does not lose sight of the initial concern that led to those remarks: the unacceptably high rate of teen pregnancy in Charleston County," said Janet Stevens, former chair of the Charleston County Teen Pregnancy Prevention Council. "To reduce teen pregnancy in Charleston County, schools, faith-based organizations, parents and governments must come together to provide our children with comprehensive sexuality education."
Stevens said the council did not agree with what Cook said but did not take a position as to what Cook should do. The council understood the outrage at Cook's statements, given the history of the issue in South Carolina, Stevens said.
The Charleston NAACP earlier this week asked for Cook to apologize or resign from the school board. Cook has not apologized. She is a licensed counselor and runs a homeless shelter for women, children and homeless veterans. After the broadcast, she clarified her remark: "Clearly, to suggest that I would be for such a radical idea would be against my morals, beliefs, and life work."
The council emphasized that teen pregnancy is a serious problem in this community and that it's a primary symptom of poverty and social ills. Greg Liotta is executive director of Florence Crittenton, which offers a residential and day program to single pregnant teens to get prenatal care and education. The girls who go there often are homeless, abused, depressed or suicidal, he said.
One-third of Charleston County high-school dropouts are pregnant teenagers, and the state's teen pregnancy rate of 52 per 1,000 is considerably higher than the national average of 41 per 1,000, according to the council.
Council members, which included the Charleston Trident Urban League and the It's Up to Me program, called on each part of the community to do its part to prevent teen pregnancies. Schools are required to teach about abstinence and contraceptives, but teachers often don't do those lessons, Stevens said. Officials should ensure that instruction takes place, she said.
Faith-based communities can have programs to get parents and teens talking about sexuality issues, and local and state governments can give more money to pay for classes for teachers on reproductive health and for pregnancy-prevention programs, Stevens said. Parents also can talk to their children about sexuality and values, she said.
Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@post andcourier.com.
The Charleston County Teen Pregnancy Prevention Council hosts workshops for parents to learn how to talk to teens about sex, pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
The next workshop will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Baptist Hill High School, 5117 Baptist Hill Road, Hollywood.
For more information, call 843-460-5033.
Reservations are appreciated, and dinner is provided.
Workshops also will be held in May in North Charleston and downtown Charleston.
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