Pregnancy rates climb for Montgomery's Hispanic teens

Teen pregnancy among Hispanics is rising in Montgomery County, bucking a countywide trend of falling birth rates.

The birth rate for Hispanic 15- to 17-year-olds was 39.7 births per 1,000 females in the period from 2007 to 2009 -- the most recent for which data is available. That is a jump from 33.3 births between 1996 and 1998 and only a slight drop from the 41.6 rate from 2006 to 2008, according to the Maryland Vital Statistics Administration.

Meanwhile, black teens gave birth at a much lower rate of 14.9 babies per 1,000 during 2007-2009 -- the highest rate in the past five years for the group, although it represents a 10-point drop from 15 years ago.
Teen birth rates
1996-1998 2007-2009
Montgomery County overall 12.8 10.6
Hispanic 33.3 39.7
Black 25.5 14.9
White 9.8 10.6
Note: Per 1,000 females aged 15 to 17
Source: Maryland Vital Statistics Administration

Montgomery County's overall rate was 10.6 births, the same as the birth rate for white teens and a drop from 12.8 births 15 years earlier.

"We look at the data for the Latino community, and I don't think we can dismiss that it is quite striking," said Councilwoman Nancy Navarro, D-Eastern County, who was given the data at a meeting of the council's Health and Human Services and Education committees.

The number of teens seeking pregnancy-related help from school and community health resources has held relatively steady in the past two years, increasing slightly from 830 in the 2009-2010 academic year to 866 last year.

But that may not correlate with birth rates for those years -- which have not been released -- since teens are not required to report when they are pregnant, said Chrisandra Richardson, Montgomery County Public Schools associate superintendent of special education and student services.

Richardson emphasized that her goal is to reduce the number of teens dropping out of school, though that number is already falling. In the 2010-2011 school year, 22 teens known to be pregnant dropped out, compared with 43 in 2009-2010 and 75 in 2008-2009.

But council members expressed frustration that the birth rate has not declined more, and some blamed pop culture.

"There's this pop culture that's been feeding into this acceptance and this celebration of teen moms," said Navarro, citing TV shows like MTV's "16 and Pregnant."

"In the black community ... it has become acceptable for young women to say that 'I'm a teenager and I'm going to make it happen because my mother did it and my grandmother did it,' " said Councilman Craig Rice, D-Germantown. "You start limiting your future abilities when you make these decisions."