Approach to Teen Pregnancy Called Immoral

IRVINE â€”  Gloria Feldt was married at age 15 and the mother of three by the time she was 20. So when she talks about teen pregnancy it is with an urgency that is personal.

Growing up in rural west Texas, she said, no one talked about condoms or contraception--or reproduction at all. So she did what everyone else did, which was to marry and have children.

Feldt, now 53 and the new president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, spoke to members and supporters of the Orange County/San Bernardino chapter Thursday night at its annual fund-raising banquet, exhorting them to take the lead in preventing teen pregnancy.

“It’s really immoral that in this country we have allowed the teen pregnancy rate to become what it is,� Feldt said in an interview before her speech. “We have the highest rate in the industrialized world. Is this because our kids are more sexually active? No. The difference is they define the problem as teen pregnancy, and we have allowed the problem to be teen sex. In other countries it’s a public health problem, and we define it as a moral problem,� she said.

In California, almost 70,000 babies are born each year to teenage mothers. In Orange County, 4,303 teen mothers gave birth in 1995, and teens in north Anaheim had the highest birth rate in the county. Latinas account for three-quarters of births to teens.

Statewide, men in their 20s father 65% of children born to teen mothers, and typically, the younger the mother the older the father, studies show. That disparity is more prevalent in Orange County than any other county in California.

“But it’s also disturbing when you realize that 62% of teen mothers were victims of sexual abuse at some point,� added John Dunn, executive director of the Orange County/San Bernardino County affiliate. “Given that statistic, to think they could in any way be involved in a relationship with an older man that is not pressured is just ridiculous,� Dunn said.

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That Planned Parenthood’s message strikes to the heart of reproductive issues in Orange County and San Bernardino, Dunn said later at the banquet, is demonstrated by the affiliate’s unprecedented growth. Last year the agency served 14,000 new patients, an 80% increase over 1995, and its membership has grown 55% in the past two years.

Planned Parenthood also has allied itself with the ACLU, NOW and other pro-choice groups to form the Orange County Coalition for Reproductive Rights, Dunn said.

“We’re succeeding despite a challenging and often hostile environment here in Orange County,� he said.

But while most people agree that teen pregnancy is a problem, the country has been reluctant to make the attitude changes needed to address it, Feldt said later at the banquet.

“We as a society must allow people to take ownership of their sexuality,� she said. “That is the biggest challenge of all . . . Teen pregnancy, while not desirable, is biologically normal and intervention is necessary to prevent it.�

Planned Parenthood’s position is that educators, parents and entire communities will have to work together to fully educate children about reproduction. No one component can do it alone and no one approach will work, Feldt said.

“Parents are a critical piece, and they tend to be overlooked,� she said. “But the research shows clearly that parents who talk openly and honestly tend to have children who are better able to delay sexual activity.�

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Focusing solely on abstinence, Feldt said, will not work and she condemned the “small but vocal group of extremists� who give teens “grossly biased and inaccurate programs pushing abstinence only.�

“If you want to meaningfully teach a young person about the value of being able to say no, it’s critically important that you teach them what they’re saying no to.�

If teen pregnancy is to be reduced, Feldt said, schools will have to take a leading role. Sexuality “is as much a necessary part of education as they are--it’s the fourth R: responsible reproduction.�