Older teens, Hispanics drive pregnancies

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(Courtesy, Missourifamilies.org)
Teen pregnancy among Hispanics, and older teens, is on the rise, as rates among white and black teens, is dropping in Alexandria.

Alexandria (Map, News) - A sharp rise in pregnancies among Alexandria’s Hispanic teenagers is thwarting the city’s efforts to reduce what has consistently been one of the worst teen pregnancy rates in Northern Virginia.

The number of pregnancies among Latinas in Alexandria under the age of 19 rose steadily from 71.1 per 1,000 in 2002 to 110 per 1,000 in 2005, Virginia Health Department statistics show. That is almost double the overall rate for Alexandria teens of 58.6 per 1,000 in 2005, the latest year for which data is available.

At that same time the rate of Latina pregnancies was rising, pregnancy rates among white and black teens was dropping.

Among white and black teens, the pregnancy rate was 49 and 83.5 per 1,000 respectively, in 1996. By 2005 the rate among white teens had dropped to 25 per 1,000 and it was 59.2 per 1,000 for black teens.

Older Latinas, in particular, have getting pregnant at a far higher rate. Nearly half — 434.8 per 1,000 teens age 18 and 19 — got pregnant in 2005

Though the pregnancy rate among Alexandria’s 18- to 19-year-olds has always been higher than for its younger teens, at 262.5 per 1,000 it was nearly half that seen among Latinas the same age in 2005.

For 16- and 17-year-olds the rate was 54.4 per 1,000 in 2005.

“Eighteen- and 19-year-olds, most concern me. We have less control,” said John Porter, an assistant superintendent of Alexandria schools and co-chairman of Alexandria’s Campaign on Adolescent Pregnancy. “Many of them are no longer in school.”

Alexandria’s rate of teenage pregnancy has been Northern Virginia’s highest five times between 1995 and 2005, the most recent year for which data is available.

Pregnancy rates include tallies of live births, abortions and stillbirths. The numbers are different than birth rates, often used as indicators of teen pregnancy because they are easier to obtain.

Though the teen pregnancy rate in the city has fallen 28 percent in that decade, it remains higher than in the rest of Northern Virginia.

The decline in Alexandria’s rate is not as dramatic as the District’s, where the pregnancy rate for teens 15 to 19 decreased from 204.3 per 1,000 girls in 1995 to 64.4 per 1,000 in 2005.

“Different cultures see early pregnancy as not as much of an issue as other cultures,” said Lisa Baker, director of Alexandria’s Office on Women. “Here, when a 16-year-old becomes pregnant, her choices are slashed in half.”

mhegstad@dcexaminer.com

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