Teens are invited to take part in the fifth annual “National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy” today (Wednesday). Public-health department spokesman Kevin Teale says the awareness campaign will center on teenagers’ familiarity with computers and the Internet.

They hope to get teens to go to the website “Teen Pregnancy-dot-org” and take an on-line quiz about the responsibilities of pregnancy and the things that may result if you become pregnant. He says hopefully it’ll encourage young teens to think about pregnancy and what it’ll mean for their life.

Teale says getting the information out there will give teens a chance to weigh the issue. He says if they look at the hard facts they’ll likely think through the issue of teen pregnancy and what kind of lifestyle it would mean to them.

As for the state’s teen pregnancy rate, Teale says it goes up and down. He says it varies tremendously from year to year, and the state Department of Public Health keeps track of the rate from year to year. He notes the teen pregnancy rate today is lower than it was years ago when marrying and having children at a young age was more socially acceptable.

The department’s own news release for this awareness event states that despite significant progress during the past decade, 34 percent of teen girls become pregnant at least once before age 20 and 78 percent of teen pregnancies are unintended.

Related web sites:
Teen Pregnancy Awareness Quiz