news-record.com

Despite recent decreases, the United States has still has the worst rates of teen pregnancy in the developed world. In 2004, the United States' overall rate of teen pregnancy was calculated at 760,000, meaning that every hour, more than 87 teens become pregnant.

Though the rate of teen pregnancy is going down nationally, Alamance County's rates grew in 2005 for the second year in a row, climbing to 64.2 pregnancies per 1,000 girls, above the 2005 state average of 61.7 per 1,000 girls. Guilford County's 2005 teen pregnancy rate was 28 pregnancies per 1,000 girls, a slight decrease from the previous year. In 2004, North Carolina teen childbearing cost taxpayers $312 million.

But statistics only begin to illuminate the problem. What politicians, doctors, teachers, and ordinary American citizens often overlook are the names and faces behind the numbers. The problem of teen pregnancy is discussed frequently while the teen parents themselves are often forgotten.

Every day, teen mothers face economic hardship, problems in school, and stigmatization -- all in addition to the physical and psychological demands that confront any new mother. They struggle with the developmental roller coaster of adolescence while trying to raise a child of their own.

Starting today and continuing next Monday, meet four North Carolina teen mothers, all enrolled in a support group called the Adolescent Parenting Program, based out of the Exchange Club Family Center of Alamance.

All the girls are struggling to overcome the obstacles that few truly understand.