Correction
An infobox in this story was unclear about teen birth rates. The infobox has been corrected.
The latest numbers from the Oklahoma State Department of Health show teen pregnancy rates continue to decline in Tulsa County and statewide.
However, declines from 2013 to 2014 are not nearly as great as those from 2012 to 2013. And the state and Tulsa County still rank above the projected national average.
“Tulsa’s doing pretty well compared to the rest of the state, but when you look at the rest of the country, it’s almost double the national average,” said Katie Sawicki, campaign coordinator with Tulsa Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.
In 2012, Oklahoma had a teen birth rate of 47.3 per 1,000 girls, compared to the national average of 29.4.
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Tulsa’s rate was 46.8.
The state saw a 19 percent decrease with a rate of 38.4 in 2014. Tulsa’s rate decreased 23 percent to 36.1.
Those decreases, while greater than the 18 percent decrease nationally during the same period, still leave the state and county well above the projected 24.2 national rate.
The Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy is targeting its efforts on Tulsa Public Schools students and is partnering with the Tulsa Health Department and Youth Services of Tulsa to provide evidence-based, medically accurate and age-appropriate sex education with a goal of raising public awareness and decreasing barriers to family-planning services for teens who are sexually active.
The curriculum is offered to all TPS students in seventh and ninth grades, pending parental approval.
“We are the only state in the country that doesn’t have a (mandated) health curriculum,” said Mindy Roe Galoob, interim executive director of the campaign.
In the 2013-14 school year, TPS instigated the district-wide opt-in curriculum.
Last school year, the campaign reached 65 percent of the eligible participants in the district.
This year, the hope is that participation will climb to 80 percent.
Annette Leon, manager of the Tulsa Health Department’s Personal Responsibility Education Program, credits the schools for allowing the curriculum to be taught.
“We’re doing something right, finally. It is really great, because the schools are now allowing us to come in and give that education piece to the kids so they are able to make good decisions,” she said.
To make additional decreases in the birth rate, Leon said efforts to provide teens with the proper information to make good choices can’t let up.
“We need to try and get in to more schools. We probably need to get some more funding to put more workers out there to address the issue and get more people talking in the communities,” she said. “The work is not complete. We want to bring awareness to this issue so we can keep seeing positive decreases in the number of teens giving birth from year to year.”
In 2013, Oklahoma had the third-highest teen birth rate in the country, and the state is expected to remain in the top five; however, other states have not submitted their data.
“Bottom line: Other states have been getting better faster because they have made this issue a priority and have been investing resources in smart ways for years. They understand that preventing teen pregnancy is a cost-effective strategy for improving a state’s health, education, workforce development and economic prosperity,” said Sharon Rodine, director of Youth Initiatives with the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy.
“The good news for Oklahoma is that our two metro areas have created strong community-wide collaborations, thanks to funding support from both the private and public sectors, and leadership from organizations like the Tulsa Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. They are the engines that are going to fuel not only the continued improvement in Oklahoma’s teen birth rankings, but more importantly, improve the lives and opportunities for thousands of our state’s young people in the years to come.”
