- Why did The National Campaign expand their mission?
- How do I order National Campaign resources?
- I'm very interested in helping prevent teen pregnancy. What can I do?
- I'm a teen parent, how can I help?
- Is there an organization to prevent teen pregnancy in my area? If not, how do I start one?
- Are there effective teen pregnancy prevention programs?
- Does The National Campaign provide funding? How can I get funding?
- What does The National Campaign do to help prevent teen pregnancy?
- Where can I find more information on teen pregnancy?
- What are the teen pregnancy rates in my state?
- What are the teen pregnancy rates in my city/county?
- Where can I find prior years' rates to see if teen pregnancy is getting better or worse?
- Why don't you have more recent statistics?
- Can you explain what these statistics mean - in plain English?
- What's the difference between a pregnancy rate and a birth rate?
- I have a report that says the pregnancy rate is different than what you have posted on your website. Which one is correct?
- How do I cite online fact sheets from The National Campaign?
- Can I get someone from The National Campaign to speak at my conference?
- Does The National Campaign have an annual conference?
- Can I get an internship with The National Campaign?
- Does The National Campaign endorse abstinence-only or comprehensive sex education?
- I'm from a country other than the United States. Where can I find information on teen or unplanned pregnancy in my country
BACK TO TOP
1. Why did The National Campaign expand their mission?
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy was founded in 1996 to work exclusively on decreasing teen pregnancy in America, and at the outset challenged the nation to reduce the teen pregnancy rate by one third over the next decade. Current demographic projections suggest that the nation has reached this goal.
As The National Campaign begins its second decade, there are two notable demographic factors that capture the attention.
- First, despite the nation’s progress in reducing teen pregnancy, about one third of teens get pregnant by age 20, the rates in the United States are still the highest among fully industrialized nations, and there is some evidence that progress is slowing. In fact, the overall teen birth rate increased in 13 states between 2003 and 2004 and remained stable in three others. Moreover, among some groups, especially the large and growing Latino population, rates of teen pregnancy and birth are well above the national average and are declining far more slowly than the overall rates. Clearly, we all still have a lot of work to do.
- Second, it is now evident that although teens have been making remarkable progress in recent years, adults have not. This is especially apparent in the nation’s rate of unplanned pregnancy. At present, about half of pregnancies are unplanned and the rate of the progress made in reducing unplanned pregnancy in the 1980s and into the 1990s seems to have almost completely halted.
Unplanned pregnancy is at the root of a number of important public health and social challenges. For example, it explains the vast majority of teen pregnancies (less than one fifth of teens say that they planned to become pregnant when they did), and the negative consequences of teen pregnancy have been well described by The National Campaign over the last decade. Unplanned pregnancy also bears a number of unfortunate and costly health consequences.
Another major consequence of high rates of unplanned pregnancy is, of course, high levels of abortion. Although there are many deeply felt and strongly held opinions nationwide about the proper place of abortion in American life, all would prefer that fewer women be faced with difficult decisions brought on by unplanned pregnancy.
It is against this backdrop that The National Campaign has expanded its mission—to continue our work on preventing teen pregnancy and also focus on reducing the high level of unplanned pregnancy in the United States among adults, especially those under 30 where the vast majority of unplanned pregnancies occur.
2. How do I order National Campaign resources?
- Use our online store: purchases are 100% secure and your order is received instantly - this is the fastest way to complete your transaction.
- By fax: send purchase orders to 202-303-0441, attention "Fulfillment."
- By check: please indicate which resources you wish to order and make your check payable to The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. Mail your check and order to:
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy
1776 Massachusetts Avenue, Ste 200
Washington, DC 20036
3. I'm very interested in helping prevent teen and unplanned pregnancy. What can I do?
There are a number of ways you can help the national effort to prevent teen and unplanned pregnancy.
- Make a Donation
Please consider making a financial contribution to The National Campaign and help us prevent teen pregnancy and unplanned pregnancy among single, young adults.
- Join Our Notification Network
Looking for the latest facts and stats? Research on what works? Information for teens and parents? Teen and unplanned pregnancy prevention media messages? Sign up for The National Campaign's E-GRAM. Are you a teen? Join Our Youth Online Network and participate.
- Participate in the National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
A yearly event in May, the National Day is an online opportunity for teens to take a fun, engaging "quiz" that presents them with several real life scenarios involving sex and asks them to choose a course of action. In 2006, over 800,000 people took the National Day Quiz - mark your calendars for the 7th annual National Day: May 7, 2008!
- Become a National Day Partner
Show a commitment to preventing teen pregnancy and partner with The National Campaign online.
4. I'm a teen parent, how can I help?
As a teen parent, you provide a uniquely powerful point of view on the subject of teen pregnancy. Sharing your story with other teens can help them appreciate the challenges of being a teen parent. You may want to contact a local or state teen pregnancy prevention organization to find out how you can become involved in your community.
Visit stayteen.org, our website for teens designed to provide information, videos, stories, personal experiences, and advice to young people. We invite you to send us your stories via email to web@thenc.org - we may post part of your story.
The Healthy Teen Network provides a list of resources for teen parents.
5. Is there an organization to prevent teen pregnancy in my area? If not, how do I start one?
Look for sources of support in other organizations around you - the school board, local businesses, health care professionals, the local health, welfare, and education departments, faith leaders, PTAs, youth groups, and reproductive health organizations. Once you have formed a start-up group of core players, you can further awareness of teen pregnancy in your area through information campaigns, educating elected officials, fundraisers, and National Day promotion.
Our State Information section is an excellent way to stay informed of teen pregnancy rates in your state. In this web section, you can explore information about state teen pregnancy rates, including breakdowns by age and race/ethnicity. You can also research related topics, like teen birth rates, state demographics, teen risk behavior, and state activities to prevent teen pregnancy. It lists state contacts that may be helpful in starting a coalition, such as Departments of Health, Education, Labor, and Human Services; Governor's councils; foundations; and governmental and non-governmental organizations dealing with maternal and child health.
- Other National Campaign resources available for download or purchase that may be helpful include:
- Talking Back: What Teens Want Adults to Know About Teen Pregnancy
- Nine Tips to Help Faith Leaders and Their Communities Address Teen Pregnancy
- Ten Tips for Parents to Help Their Children Avoid Teen Pregnancy
- Emerging Answers: New Research Findings on Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy
- The National Campaign is proud to continue work on a CDC-funded project called Putting What Works to Work. PWWTW is dedicated to translating research on teen pregnancy prevention and related issues into user-friendly materials for practitioners, policymakers, and advocates.
6. Are there effective teen pregnancy prevention programs?
The National Campaign is strongly committed to fair, science-based evaluations of teen pregnancy prevention programs. While The National Campaign does not endorse or sell program curricula directly, we do offer a comprehensive review of research on effective programs - Emerging Answers: New Research Findings on Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy. It can be ordered through our online store or downloaded as a PDF file.
Other related National Campaign research-based publications include:
- Not Yet: Programs to Delay First Sex Among Teens
- The Adolescent Brain: A Work in Progress
- Halfway There: A Prescription for Continued Progress in Preventing Teen Pregnancy
- Progress Pending: How to Sustain and Extend Recent Reductions in Teen Pregnancy Rates
- 14 and Younger: The Sexual Behavior of Young Adolescents
- What's Behind the Good News: The Decline in Teen Pregnancy Rates During the 1990s
Other resources include:
- PASHA archive - PASHA is the Program Archive on Sexuality, Health, and Adolescence produced by Sociometrics.
- Child Trends - Child Trends is a nonprofit, nonpartisan children's research organization that provides research and data on teen pregnancy.
- ETR - is a private, non-profit corporation that provides educational resources, training and research on sexuality and health education.
7. Does The National Campaign provide funding? How can I get funding?
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy is not currently a grant-making organization and does not provide any funding, but does provides some fundraising resources for community-based groups:
- Ready Resources offers practical guidance on how states and communities can use available Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) money to fund initiatives to prevent teen pregnancy, as illustrated by compelling and concrete examples from a few states. Ready Resources II provides information on why the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) is an important potential partner in teen pregnancy prevention, and offers examples and guidance for undertaking collaborative efforts. Both of these documents can be ordered by going to our online store.
- Most large independent foundations, as well as some family foundations, can be researched on the Foundation Center's website.
- Each state has a community foundation - often more than one - that gives exclusively to that region (i.e., the Santa Fe Community Foundation). The Foundation Center links to the community foundations that service each state.
- Businesses and corporations typically give in the areas where their businesses have a presence. When approaching any business for support - whether it be a small family-owned or a large multinational company - remember that in-kind services are always an option. For further information, visit the Foundation Center's page on corporate giving.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides a Healthy Youth Funding Database that lists current and past sources of school health program funding, including federal categorical cooperative agreements, private-sector funding, block grants, and state revenue funding.
- After-school programs can be effective in preventing teen pregnancy. Check out the Finance Project's 2003 report Finding Funding: A Guide to Federal Sources for Out-of-School Time and Community School Initiatives.
- The White House Community and Faith-Based Initiative provides information on funding sources available to community and faith-based organizations working to address a range of social issues. The website includes information about funding sources specifically geared to at-risk youth.
8. What does The National Campaign do to help prevent teen and unplanned pregnancy?
The About Us section of our website provides a thorough description of The National Campaign, describes our leadership, and discusses how we address the challenge of reducing teen and unplanned pregnancy.
Finally, our quarterly online newsletter, the Campaign Update, provides information about our current activities.
9. Where can I find more information on the problems of teen and unplanned pregnancy?
- For information on the causes of teen pregnancy, review Emerging Answers (available for purchase online or download summary).
- For information on the consequences of teen and unplanned pregnancy, visit our Why It Matters section.
- Visit our fact sheet section for brief topical synopses, as well as our Putting What Works to Work section.
10. What are the teen pregnancy rates in my state?
Our State Information section is an interactive way to find information about teen pregnancy, teen sexual behavior, and prevention programs state by state.
11. What are the teen pregnancy rates in my city/county?
Some possible resources include:
- The National Campaign's section on city and county data
- Facts at a Glance
- KidsCount
- Cliks: Community Level information on Kids
- Vital Statistics of the United States
- Alternatively, try your state health department.
12. Where can I find prior years' rates to see if teen pregnancy is getting better or worse?
For changes over time in state teen pregnancy and birth rates, visit the State Information section on The National Campaign's website.
The Guttmacher Institute also provides state pregnancy rates back to 1985.
13. Why don't you have more recent statistics?
While some of the statistics on our website may seem out of date, they are almost always the most recent statistics available. Unfortunately, some statistics - national and state teen pregnancy rates in particular - take a relatively long time to collect.
Birth data are released by the federal government in three waves. Preliminary rates for the previous year are typically released the following summer. Then, final rates are released at the end the following year. Finally, special reports with additional statistics are released on an irregular basis.
Three different national groups release pregnancy data: two branches of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (part of the federal government), and the Guttmacher Institute, a private nonprofit organization.
All three groups release pregnancy data on an irregular basis, and rates are typically 4-6 years behind the current year. This is due in part to the fact that, in addition to birth and miscarriage data, pregnancy data includes abortion data, which is difficult to collect - see The Guttmacher Institute's publication Issues in Brief: The Limitations of U.S. Statistics on Abortion for a discussion of the history and methods of abortion data collection.
Note that most state health departments also release teen pregnancy and/or birth data, and this data is sometimes more recent than data available from national sources. We rarely use this data for two reasons. First, rates are calculated differently in each state, so data cannot be compared across states or with national rates. Second, each state has a different schedule of releasing data, making it difficult to stay current with all 50 states.
Data on sexual activity and contraceptive use usually come from one of three government-funded surveys. Statistics for high school students usually come from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), which takes place every other year. For the most recent data, visit our state information section and go to the teen risk behavior subsection.
The National Campaign announces when new data are released through The National Campaign E-GRAM. If you'd like to be notified of new data and National Campaign updates, sign up for the E-GRAM here.
14. Can you explain what these statistics mean - in plain English?
The most common statistic on our website is a rate, either a teen pregnancy rate or a teen birth rate. A rate measures the likelihood of teen pregnancy or birth happening within the population and is calculated by dividing the number of pregnancies or births by the teen population, then multiplying by 1,000.
For example, California's 1996 teen pregnancy rate of 125 per 1,000 means that out of every 1,000 teen girls living in California in 1996, 125 got pregnant that year.
15. What's the difference between a pregnancy rate and a birth rate?
The teen birth rate is lower than the teen pregnancy rate because birth rates only include those pregnancies that end in a live birth (57% of all teen pregnancies in 2000). The pregnancy rate, on the other hand, includes all pregnancies - those ending in live births, abortions, and miscarriages.
16. I have a report that says the pregnancy rate is different than what you have posted on your website. Which one is correct?
It's likely that both are correct, they just come from different data sets. This could be for one of two reasons.
First, three different national organizations release pregnancy rates: the Guttmacher Institute, the National Center for Health Statistics (part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), and the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (also part of CDC). Pregnancy rates from these three organizations are different, even when they reflect the same year and geographic area.
Second, some states also publish pregnancy and birth rates. State published teen pregnancy rates, in particular, tend to be very different than state rates published by any of the national data sources. Abortion rates tend to be slightly lower, usually include only late-term miscarriages, and often use different age groups than do the national data sets. These three factors together can make rates from state health departments as much as 50-67% lower than state rates from AGI.
17. How do I cite online fact sheets from The National Campaign?
Most of our fact sheets do not have a specific author. For these documents, use our organization name as the author. For example, for the fact sheet Teen Pregnancy - So What?:
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. (2004). Teen Pregnancy - So What?. [Online]. Available: www.teenpregnancy.org/whycare/sowhat.asp. Washington: Author.
If a document is undated, you can assume it was written (or updated) in the current year. For the proper citation in a specific style such as APA or MLA, please consult a style manual or textbook.
18. Can I get someone from The National Campaign to speak at my conference?
Visit The National Campaign Speakers Bureau to submit your request for National Campaign staff to speak at conferences, workshops and meetings. We will respond to your request as soon as possible.
19. Does The National Campaign have an annual conference?
The short answer is no, The National Campaign does not have an annual conference.
However, over the course of any given year, we generally host a variety of events: conferences, roundtable discussions, workshops, national teleconferences, seminars in Washington, DC, where we are headquartered, or online events.
The best way to stay informed of National Campaign events is to join our Notification Network.
20. Can I get an internship with The National Campaign?
The National Campaign hires interns during the fall, spring, and summer semesters. Check the Job Announcements page for more information.
TOP
21. Does The National Campaign endorse abstinence-only or comprehensive sex education?
In the battle between abstinence education and comprehensive education, The National Campaign is firmly on the side of science. In 1996, The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy was formed to help address the alarming rate of teen pregnancy in America. From the outset, The National Campaign knew that to make a dent in this problem, it had to be a non-partisan, non-ideological organization that could bridge the fundamental and meaningful value disagreements that exist on the issue.
The National Campaign publishes research on the fundamental question: What programs/curricula have the best evidence of success? As we have noted in several publications, at present, those programs that discuss both abstinence and the importance of sexually active teens using contraception consistently and carefully have the best evidence of success. See Emerging Answers 2007 and What Works.
It is also the case that the majority of the American public do not view abstinence and contraception as competing strategies, but instead as complimentary strategies. See With One Voice. To read more about what the Campaign thinks on this issue, review our Thoughts on Abstinence fact sheet .
22. I'm from a country other than the United States. Where can I find information on teen pregnancy in my country?
The National Campaign's goal is to reduce teen and unplanned pregnancy rates in the U.S., so we do not do much work internationally. However, we do have a few resources.
Our fact sheet Where to Find the Facts About Teen Pregnancy provides sources for international statistics (see page 4 of fact sheet). You can also find statistics for U.S. territories such as Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, here.
For more resources, try using a search engine such as Google and typing in "teen pregnancy prevention" or "teen pregnancy statistics" or "unplanned pregnancy prevention" plus your country's name.
 |
||
|