A dollar per day not to get pregnant

Press, 28 December 1988, Page 8

A dollar per day not to get pregnant

NZPA-AP Denver A programme that paid teenage girls a dollar a day not to get pregnant was proving one of the most successful methods of curbing the teen pregnancy rate, supporters said. The programme was introduced at La Mariposa Health Station three years ago and prompted criticism even from supporters of family planning who saw it as paternal and coercive. Supporters of the programme were not claiming to have found the ultimate solution to the teenage pregnancy problem, but they said it worked on a small scale and costs less in the long run. Statistics show that between 30 and 50 per cent of teenagers who became pregnant once were likely to become pregnant again before they were 18. But of 18 original participants in the Denver programme, only three had a repeat pregnancy. The governor’s “Initiative on Teen Pregnancy” reported that Colorado spends more than SUS2OO million ($316 million) annually in aid to families with dependent children, food stamps, Medicaid and other public assistance for families headed by women who began their childbearing as teens. To earn their money all the teenagers had to do was show up once a week at the west side clinic for a group session. A La Mariposa counsellor, Diane Medina, said she presided over a stack of dollar bills and a smorgasbord, just listening to the conversation and making no demands.