Teen birth rate in Indiana rises slightly after 9 - year decline

FORT WAYNE -- The overall rate of Indiana teenagers having babies has risen slightly after an eight-year decline, a report released Tuesday shows.\nIndiana's birth rate for females ages 15 to 19 increased to 43.5 per 1,000 during 2004 from 43.4 the year before, according to the annual Kids Count in Indiana Data Book by the Indiana Youth Institute.\n"Although the overall increase may seem slight, the change in the trend is definitely worth watching," said Bill Stanczykiewicz, the institute's president and chief executive. "A long-term upward swing in Indiana's teen birth rate could have potentially huge social and economical implications for the state."\nThe National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy recently estimated Indiana's teen births cost taxpayers at least $195 million in 2004, $125 million in federal funds and $70 million in state and local money.\nResearch also shows children born to teen parents are more likely to face social, developmental and economic challenges, Stanczykiewicz said.\nLinda Hathaway, a program manager with the McMillen Center for Health Education in Fort Wayne, said the increase might stem from contradictory messages received by teenagers. While many schools teach students to wait to have sex until they're married, television shows and music glamorize it, she said.\n"In our culture, whether it's advertising, whether it's television programs, popular music, there's not many abstinence messages that go out to that," Hathaway said. "The most empowering thing that you can do for a kid is to get them the correct information."\nJudy Harris, an educator with Planned Parenthood of Indiana in Fort Wayne, attributed the increase to the rise of abstinence-only education in schools. The eight-year decline in the teen birth rate occurred before the federal government began offering incentives to schools to teach abstinence only, she said.\nThe teen birth rate for white females increased slightly after having declined for nine years, while the black teen birth rate decreased for the sixth year in a row.