Have you heard about College Bound Sisters? It is a program in Greensboro, North Carolina that is designed to prevent teen pregnancy. The program targets younger sisters of teen mothers who are between the ages of 12 and 16, want to go to college, have never been pregnant and are willing to attend an hour and a half meeting each week. In return, for every day that these teens do not get pregnant, they are paid $1. $7 is deposited into a college fun each week that they attend the meeting, are not pregnant, and are still attending school. When they enroll in college, they get the money for tuition.
Teen girls who have a older sister that became pregnant before the age of 18 are more likely to become teen mothers themselves. Teen pregnancy is not just a problem for the teens; the U.S. incurred at least $9.1 billion in costs related to teen births in 2004. The College Bound Sisters program costs just $75,000 each year to operate. Before you compare apples to oranges, however, realize that this program takes place in one city. It’s hard to compare the costs of one program in one location to the costs incurred across the entire nation. What’s more, how do you weigh the success of the program? Six girls of the 125 enrolled for six months or longer have become pregnant since the program began.
The weekly meetings focus on friendship, goal-setting, sexual education and getting into college. Despite the advantages of these meetings, I think paying teens to not get pregnant is sending the wrong message and addressing the wrong issue. Teen pregnancy is not the only consequence of premarital teen sex. There is no such thing as 100% safe sex. Focusing on pregnancy prevention ignores the emotional toll sex can take on teens in impermanent or nonexistent relationships. It also does not address the risks of transmitting diseases. Condoms do not eliminate the risk of STD transmission and birth control is not 100% effective. Abstinence is the only surefire way of preventing both pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease. If the success of the program is measured by decreasing numbers of teen pregnancy, then it certainly seems successful. However, I think this may be too simple of a conclusion. I would be interested in hearing how the program has impacted the teens in other areas of their life.
What do you think of this program? Do you think it is an effective way to prevent teen pregnancy? Is it the best approach?