-Teenage Pregnancy at Kean High

by KDaniel

ST. THOMAS - The pregnancy rate at Ivanna Eudora Kean High School for the 2008-2009 school year "is at an all time high and three times that of the larger Charlotte Amalie High School,” according to Mary-Ellen Anton Coles, the former school nurse.

“The risky behavior that is resulting in these high pregnancy rates is presumably also causing an equal rise in sexually transmitted infections (STI) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).”

According to Coles, out of 984 students, 52% of them are girls and by the end of the 2008-2009 school year, the number of pregnancies reached 22, the highest number on record. That represents approximately 3.5% of the girls at the school.

Charlotte Amalie High School had a population of 1,600 in the year 2008-2009, but it had only 8 pregnant girls.

An unplanned teenage pregnancy in high schools often results in a rise in the high school drop out rate. Students who are pregnant are more likely to drop out of high school because they have no one to talk to, they have to provide for their unborn child, or they just think that they can do it on their own without any help from teachers, parents, or school.

“Teens that become pregnant frequently do not obtain early medical or prenatal care and are considered high risk for long-term problems,” said Mary-Ellen Anton Coles. When this happens, a lot of problems with the baby can occur including "low birth weight, consequential developmental problems, birth defects and other catastrophic events such, as premature and bleeding in the brain and infant death."

After the birth of the baby, the adolescent mothers face unfamiliar responsibilities such as child care and new financial and social burdens. Birth can be a very difficult process to go through at such a young age, especially if parents aren’t supportive or the father is not ready for fatherhood.

Teenage pregnancy can be prevented with the use of a condom or just remaining abstinent. There are so many teenage pregnancies because most teens do not use condoms. They say things like, “He is clean”; “I trust him”; “He doesn’t like to use them”; "We did not have any at the time”; We didn’t plan to" ; and “It just happened so fast.”

According to Coles, 28% of the pregnant girls reported having sex with older men for fun or because they told them that they look good. When they is no love in the home, they will go out and find it from someone or somewhere. They go looking for love in all the wrong places.

Individuals in their teens and twenties did a survey on St.Thomas; less than 1/5 of the respondents stated that they always used condoms, and another 2/3 reported that they did not use condoms at all. When it comes to the males, 28% of them reported that their sex partners were of their age or younger because those are the ones who "give it up easier." As a result of this age-mixing, the girls (age15-19) demonstrate HIV rates five times higher than their male counterparts," according to Coles.

Many teenagers don’t know that condom use reduces the risk of unplanned pregnancy, if they use it correctly. But if the condom breaks, slips, or leaks, it would not help reduce any sexually transmitted disease. Pregnancy rates are reported at only 3% when a condom is used correctly and consistently