Teen births in Hennepin County drop by 21 percent in 2018
Teen births are down once again in Hennepin County. The one-year drop between 2017 and 2018 was 21 percent, contributing to an overall decrease of more than 65 percent since 2009.
"We are really happy with the results,” said Emily Scribner-O'Pray, a planning specialist with Better Together Hennepin, the county's teen pregnancy prevention program.
“Teen birth rates are going down everywhere, but they have gone down faster in Hennepin County than the state and the nation," she said.
Scribner-O’Pray credits a combination of straightforward sexual health education linked to adolescent health services for the reduction.
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"[It] provides young people with honest information, and also provides a really important key — is that it provides young people with a linkage to clinic services,” she said.
She said, however, officials still need to focus on the consistently higher teen birth rate among teens of color.
"We really want to make sure that all young people have access to what they need, in a way that is culturally relevant and meets their needs, and particularly for those young people who are affected by those disparities," she said.
Scribner-O'Pray said the program operates under a long term federal grant which runs out in June 2020. She said efforts are underway to find alternative resources to keep it running.
Correction (Nov. 12, 2019): A previous version of this story misstated Emily Scribner-O'Pray’s title at Better Together Hennepin.