Teenage Pregnancy

A curriculum stressing sexual abstinence that was widely used in California schools did not change younger teenagers' sexual behavior, a study has found.

Are 18-year-old married mothers part of the teen pregnancy problem? State officials have been criticized for categorizing all teen-age pregnancy data in age 19-and-under groups. On average, about 15,000 of California's 70,000 teen births are to married women 18 and 19. "The point has been made that 19-year-olds marrying and having a baby can't be called a bad thing, according to historic views in this country," says Rep.

Confronting its failure to curb teenage pregnancy through sex education and counseling, the administration of Gov. Pete Wilson is turning to a tough, new tactic: greater enforcement of laws against men having sex with underage girls. "The message to adult men is clear: Stay away from young girls and if you don't, you'll go to jail," said San Diego County Dist. Atty. Paul Pfingst, whose office is taking an unusually aggressive approach to the new program.

The Los Angeles Unified School District was honored Tuesday by the state Senate president pro tem for implementing four Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Programs in the district. The district received four five-year grants from the California Department of Education last year to fund the programs in four school clusters, including Grant High School in Van Nuys.

California's teenage birthrate has fallen substantially for the sixth year in a row. The birthrate among those 15 through 19 years old fell 8% in 1997, the most recent year for which figures are available. Births to teenagers have declined 22% since the trend was first detected in 1992, state health officials reported. Among younger girls, ages 10 through 14, the birthrate fell 15.4%, the largest annual decrease ever reported. Grantland Johnson, newly named by Gov.

A consortium of hospitals, doctors and a private foundation will promote the five-year contraceptive Norplant to teen-agers in Baltimore, which has one of the nation's highest teen-age pregnancy rates. "It will cover them during their school years, which is what you want," said city Health Commissioner Peter Beilenson, who organized the Baltimore City Norplant Consortium. One in 10 Baltimore girls from ages 15 to 17 gave birth in 1990, the latest year for which figures are available.

Four teen-agers from Girls Inc. of Orange County in Costa Mesa will be featured in an upcoming segment of the ABC-TV news magazine "Prime Time Live," a coordinator for the youth group said. Rather than be interviewed by one of the show's adult anchors, the four young women, all Costa Mesa residents, took over as interviewers for a story on teen-age pregnancy, speaking candidly with five older boys.

Gov. Pete Wilson on Thursday kicked off an advertising campaign to combat teenage pregnancy and touted it as the largest media blitz ever aimed at the issue. State and private contributions are expected to generate $22 million in television commercials over the next two years--enough to maintain a broadcast level equal to most statewide political campaigns. The television message will be bolstered with public support from celebrities such as National Basketball Assn.