Teen Pregnancy Prevention

The Problem

Teen pregnancy profoundly, and in most cases negatively, affects the lives of those involved while costing the community millions of dollars through direct care, ancillary services, and the overall drain on the workforce.

Milwaukee is one of the Top Ten cities within the U.S. with the highest percentage of total births to teen mothers.

• The long-term cost of a Milwaukee teen having one baby is estimated at $79,320.
  
• Girls born to teen mothers are 83% more likely to become teen mothers.
  
• Children of teen mothers are much more likely to drop out of high school prior to graduation.
  
• In Wisconsin, 71% of babies born to teen girls are fathered by males over 20 years old - in 20% of the cases the fathers are at least six years older.

If Truth Be Told

Teen pregnancy is at a crisis level in Milwaukee, and the If Truth Be Told report that was compiled by United Way of Greater Milwaukee and its community partners provides a straightforward assessment of the situation.

Read the executive summary

What United Way Is Doing

In order to break the cycle of poverty that is fed by teen pregnancy, United Way of Greater Milwaukee is spearheading an effort to bring the issue to the forefront of public attention. Despite the hard work and dedication by many individuals and organizations within the community to address teen pregnancy, most efforts have not provided significant results. To address the teen pregnancy crisis, United Way . . .

• Sponsored and authored the comprehensive report If Truth be Told with the community-wide Teen Pregnancy Prevention Oversight Committee to work in collaboration with agencies and community leaders.
• Invested in programs through the Healthy Girls project that helps youths to understand the consequences of teen pregnancy while also teaching them the skills needed to cope with social pressures to avoid becoming pregnant.
• Initiated the first phase of a bold media-driven campaign targeting teens and businesses to educate them on the negative affect teen pregnancy has on the individuals involved and the business climate within the city. Other audiences identified in the "If Truth Be Told" report will be targeted in future campaign phases.
• Teen Pregnancy Media Campaign - Business Journal

Crisis Statistics

Milwaukee has one of the nation's highest percentages of births to teens, and rates of teen pregnancy.
In 1999, 30 percent of Milwaukee teen births were to teens that already had one or more children.
In 2005, 59 percent of students reported that they already had sexual intercourse.
The 15-17-year-old average birthrate from 1996-2004 for non-Hispanic African American females is 91.3 percent. 
(http://www.ci.mil.wi.us/ImageLibrary/Groups/healthAuthors/DCP/PDFs/finalteenpregnancyfactsheetrev406.pdf)

Middle & High School Students Report

37 percent of sexually active MPS high school students report having intercourse with four or more partners
18.5 percent of MPS middle school students reported their first sexual intercourse occurred under age 13.
26.3 percent of sexually active MPS high school students did not use a condom during their last sexual intercourse.

Sexual Assault

42 percent of girls younger than 15 years reported their first intercourse was nonconsensual.
From one-half to two-thirds of teenage mothers were sexually assaulted prior to their first pregnancy and between 30 percent and 44 percent had been victims of rape or attempted rape.
48 percent of MPS high school girls believed that if a girl says yes to sex and then changes her mind and a boy has sex with her anyway, it is not sexual assault.

The Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative through Healthy Girls is sponsored by Aurora Health Care through the Healthy Girls Challenge Grant.