Arkansas teen pregnancy costs exceed $143 million annually

Female leaders and a few brave men packed the room at the University of Arkansas Global Campus in Rogers on Wednesday (Jan. 14) to discuss teen pregnancy and the impact this age-old problem continues to have on the economic advancement of women.

The consensus in the room was that more education is needed at all levels if Arkansas is ever to reduce teen pregnancy numbers. Arkansas has the third highest teen pregnancy and birth rate in the country. The teen pregnancy rate is 28% higher than the national average, while the teen birth rate is 70% higher, according to Kristen Jozkowski, University of Arkansas professor and author of the one of the three reports discussed at the event. The forum was sponsored by the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas.

The annual economic impact to the state to support teen pregnancy was $143 million when last measured in 2008. The report notes that Arkansas taxpayers spent $3.3 billion in costs associated with teen childbirth between 1991 and 2010. In addition to the costs associated with teen pregnancy, teen childbearing has economic, social and health costs for the state of Arkansas including $34 million spent on public health care (such as Medicaid), and $11 million for child welfare. 

An additional $21 million and $45 million in indirect costs associated with teen pregnancy were spent on higher rates of incarceration in Arkansas and lost tax revenue due to lower earnings and spending, respectively. 

Jozekowski said the teen pregnancy rate has dropped since the 1980s but not as much as it has nationwide. Her findings showed that Arkansas teens are having sex but the majority are not using reliable forms of birth control. She said unprotected sex is the reason for the higher teen birth rate, noting that sex itself is not the problem, but it’s the lack of birth control and sex education that is lacking.

EDUCATION HURDLES
Less than 2% of teen mothers will graduate from college by age 30, and if teen moms return to finish high school the average age of completion is 22 – four years behind schedule.

In 2012, more than 25% of Arkansans under the age of 18 lived below the federal poverty level. Similar to educational attainment, poverty is a cause and consequence of teen pregnancy that continues to contribute to economic hardship for teen parents, and impacts teen mothers specifically, given that they end up doing an overwhelming majority of the childrearing.

Mike Malone, CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Council, was one of three panel members to discuss the reports at Wednesday’s event. Malone said there are 38,000 women in Northwest Arkansas that have some college but lack a degree. He said 4,000 of them live at or below the poverty level. Malone said there is a direct impact between a college degree and lifetime earnings potential and ultimately economic growth. 

“In Northwest Arkansas we have three programs in place but they all need expanding,” he said.

Malone said efforts are underway to help adults obtain college degrees. Those programs include an early childhood education program in Fayetteville funded by the Walton Family Foundation, after school programs that provide affordable childcare options, and the Graduate NWA program that helps working adults complete degrees.

Some of the voices captured in one of the reports indicated a wide range of opinions from young women about why they did or did not complete their college education. The number one obstacle is childcare affordability and accessibility. 

Panel participant Helen Reid, director of population health policy for the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, said she is amazed that UAMS with 10,000 employees does not have a childcare program.

“One of the complaints we hear over and over is that there is not enough qualified job candidates in the region. We are sitting at a 3.9% unemployment rate and the time has never been more ripe for employers to be more flexible to get the workers they need,” Malone said.

Malone and others agreed that STEM education, emphasizing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, must be better promoted with girls because to ensure better job opportunities.

HARD CHOICES
Another common theme found in the report was the gender gap that exists between males and females, particularly those who do chose motherhood as a career path over a college degree and professional job.

Panel participant Brenda Gullett, a member of the Arkansas Board of Education and former state legislator, said she grew up in the era of Helen Gurley Brown who said women could have it all. 

“I am here to say Helen lied,” Gullett said as she was struck by the personal accounts contained in the reports from young women who said they had to make a choice between being a mom or having a career.

Gullett spent several years in the Arkansas Legislature and joked that she quit wearing hairspray and started wearing Windex because of the low glass ceiling.

Gullett reflected on her youth in Arkansas and said women were steered into the areas of Home Economics or teaching, if they got any formal college training at all. She said too many times it’s not men holding the women down, but other women at top who won’t share the “coffee recipe.” She said too many times women who make it up the ladder don’t look back to see those trapped on the floor.

Her plea was to other professional women to reach out and mentor the at-risk group and for the 27 women in Arkansas’ legislative body to take up the cause and put their name on an education bill that targets this at-risk demographic.

EDUCATION NEEDED
Arkansas is one of 14 states with no mandate to teach sexual education. In the seven years Gullet has served on the State Board of Education, she said it has been discussed just once.

Cindy Crawford, director of Hannah House in Fort Smith, has been an advocate against teen pregnancy for more than a decade. Crawford said more education is needed but the funding for it dried up in recent years. She said parents need to be educated about the age appropriateness of talking to their children about sexuality. Crawford said young professional women and men in their late 20s are the best mentors for reaching teens.

Crawford said education has to start much earlier than the teen years. She sees programs like Big Brothers and Big Sisters as a way to introduce children to role models early on. Crawford also said Parent Teacher Associations could bridge the sex education topic from the parent perspective and offer workshops to help educate parents on how to talk to their children.

STARTUP HELP
Jeff Amerine, UA professor and founder of Startup Junkie Consulting, shared his passion at the event for helping entrepreneurs with business launches, mentoring and connecting to other resources. He said too many times in the past there has not been enough emphasis promoting women in the workplace.

As a father with three daughters, Amerine said employers like Startup Junkie and others can no longer afford to ignore a demographic that makes up nearly 51% of the workforce.

“We were fortunate enough to get a $500,000 grant from the Small Business Administration to establish the Ozarks Regional Innovation Cluster (ORIC) that will reach out to promote women entrepreneurs, along with veterans and minorities. This is a five year plan, with the funds renewable based on performance,” Amerine told The City Wire.

He said ORIC is a broad attempt to break down barriers that have existed in the past as the startup community at large has mostly catered to white males from 18 to 30 years of age, and the majority of funding has gone to that demographic.

Amerine said the innovation hub goal is to promote more women-owned, minority-owned or veteran-owned ventures that sometimes fall through the cracks – especially if the are not technology-based ventures.

Winrock International and the Walmart Foundation are also supporters of ORIC which covers nine counties including Benton, Washington, Newton and Madison in Arkansas, McDonald County in Missouri, and Delaware,Ottawa, Cherokee and Adair counties in Oklahoma.