Teenage pregnancy isn't typically thought of as a problem for sexual minorities — yet their risk of pregnancy is often higher. The possible explanations are complicated.
"The community engagement process pushed me out of my reporting comfort zone, and not only led to new sources but strengthened the relationships I had with previous sources," writes Fresno Bee reporter Mackenzie Mays.
Out of 160 Fresno Unified high school students who took a survey conducted by The Fresno Bee, more than half said they had only “learned a little” about sex in school. Sixteen percent said they had learned nothing at all.
The San Joaquin Valley is home to some of the California's highest rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. As part of a series on sex education and teen pregnancy, The Fresno Bee found out what some women wished they would have learned about sex when they were younger.
The neighborhood a child grows up in may be the biggest contributor to teen pregnancy rates. And one way to reduce the number of teen pregnancies is to provide structure, like after-school activities, to teens in needy neighborhoods.
Warren County, North Carolina has experienced decades of hardship and despair. But Mary Somerville of the Warren Community Health Clinic says nothing was more heartbreaking than the day she had to close the clinic.
For years, some school districts in California's Central Valley have been reluctant to teach comprehensive sex education. Worse, the valley's pregnancy and STD rates are some of the state's highest.
Despite health challenges, young people with chronic conditions are at least as sexually active as their peers and more likely to take risks. Yet providers often fail to discuss sex and reproductive planning with these patients, resulting in unwanted outcomes and limited futures.
Some alarming data from a study shows that a group of teen and young mothers have experienced up to seven times the levels of childhood trauma of a normal population.
This story is part of Kate Long's fellowship project where she explores West Virginia's epidemics of chronic disease and obesity and the efforts to reserve them. The series is called "The Shape We're In."
