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Contact: Kathy Wick, Better Together Hennepin, 612-543-3020
Contact: Mike
Opat, Hennepin County Board, 612-348-7881
Contact: Carolyn Marinan, Communications, 612-348-5969
Teen births in
Hennepin County decreased 12.4 percent last year, at a rate higher than the
11.3 percent statewide decrease.
According to an
analysis of birth records released last month, 418 females ages 15 to 19 gave
birth in 2016, compared to 477 in 2015.
The 2016 birth rate of 11.7 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19 makes for a 66 percent decline in teen birth rates in the past ten years. The number of repeat births to teens is also at a 10-year low: 13.4 percent of all teen births.
Decrease is no
coincidence
Kathy Wick, manager of Better Together Hennepin, the county's teen
pregnancy prevention program, said the continued decline is exciting but not coincidental.
"This has been a long-term focus of Hennepin County, to arm youth
to make informed decisions about their sexual health, and to assure access to
reproductive health care and caring, approachable adults who can answer their
questions and provide guidance," she said.
Hennepin County partners with a variety of schools, clinics and
non-profits on teen pregnancy prevention. Partners include the Annex Teen Clinic,
Brooklyn Center Health Resource Center, Minneapolis Health Department, Planned
Parenthood and NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center.
Decreases in teen births span all racial demographics; however, there
remain pronounced disparities. Compared to white youth, the teen birth rate is eight
to 13 times higher for African Americans, Native Americans and Latinos. The persistence of disparities demonstrates
a continued need for strategically-placed resources.
Wick said it is especially encouraging that teen birth rates continue to
decline in cities with the highest teen birth rates, including Brooklyn Park,
Richfield, Robbinsdale and Minneapolis. These are four of the five cities
where Hennepin County programs have focused their efforts. In Brooklyn Center,
the fifth city, the teen birth rate rose 7.5 percent between 2015 and 2016.
Federal cuts
The
news about continued reductions in teen birth rates came shortly after an
announcement from the Trump Administration that it cut over $213 million in
funding to the Health and Human Services Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program.
Better Together Hennepin’s $1.5 million grant – along with the grants of 80
similar initiatives across the country – was cut from five years to three and
will end June 30, 2018.
Programs the county sponsors use a combination of federal, state and
county funding. They include evidence-based sexuality education in schools, supports
for youth-friendly health care and screening, positive youth development
programming and communications training for parents that prepares them to act as
trusted sources of sexual health information. Loss of federal funding will have
a significant impact on the continuation of some of these programs.
Hennepin County Commissioner Mike Opat said that the work the county has
done to help teenagers put off having children is an investment in the future –
for teens and for taxpayers.
“The Hennepin County Board has long realized that teen pregnancies are
devastating to all concerned," he said. "We have made prevention our
priority and the work is paying off, but we have more to do. Outperforming the
rest of the state is nice, but all indicators tell us that children born to
adults who are ready to accept the awesome responsibility of being a parent are
more likely to thrive.”
The financial side
Children born to teen mothers are at greater risk for infant death,
childhood health problems, cognitive and emotional delays, school struggles, a continued
cycle of teen parenthood, and multi-generational poverty. In fact, more than
half of all human services spending in Minnesota goes to families that began
with a teen parent, costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars and multiples
of that in lost potential for young people.
For more information, visit the Better Together Hennepin webpage at www.hennepin.us/bettertogether.
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Look for more news on the Hennepin County website at www.hennepin.us/news.
Discover how we're making a difference in our communities at www.hennepin.us/stories.
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