Are the nation's efforts to curb Latina teen pregnancy actually making young Latinas more vulnerable?
Vanessa,* age 19, watched President Obama's recent education address to students while holding her infant son and sitting with her niece Liz,* age 13. A few weeks earlier, Vanessa had become one of the growing number of Latina teen moms in the United States, surviving on her fiancé's minimum wage job at Target and temporarily postponing a college education. What are the country's leaders telling Vanessa about her socioeconomic future as a young mom? What are they telling Liz?
Vanessa's story is quite common: Latina teens give birth at a rate more than twice that of white teens. Latinos have a much lower high school and college graduate rate compared to white teens. The millions poured into programs aimed at curbing the Latina teen pregnancy rate and urging Latinos to pursue higher education have been largely ineffective. In fact, some of these campaigns may have inadvertently worsened the situation by misplacing blame and perpetuating bias. Instead of stigmatizing Vanessa, policy experts ought to be looking at the complex structural barriers that offer her starkly different choices than many of her teen counterparts. READ FULL STORY
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