Half of California’s 10 counties with the highest teenage birth rates are in the Central Valley, despite statewide record lows in teen births. Even so, the Valley lacks programs that help boys understand the responsibilities of sex and parenthood.
Before the California Healthy Youth Act went into effect last year, Fresno Unified was one of a few school districts that didn’t teach comprehensive sex education and pushback against such lessons remains.
While U.S. teen birth rates have continued to decrease across all races and ethnicities, disparities persist. In 2014, nearly 75 percent of the teen births in Fresno County California were to Hispanic mothers.
Research has shown that sex education results in fewer teen pregnancies, but in California's politically conservative San Joaquin Valley, there is a history of strong push-back against sex ed.
The story is the first in a series about sex education and teen pregnancy in the central San Joaquin Valley, and is produced as a project for the USC Center for Health Journalism’s California Fellowship....
Graciela Pacheco's teachers never taught her about sex. She learned most of what she knows from her next-door neighbor — a 15-year-old boy she met when she was 12 — who would become the father of her child.
Unyque Jackson started kindergarten in Oakland. Her parents divorced when she was five. And Unyque moved to the San Joaquin Valley where she lived in her father’s house and was raised by her grandmother.
If a member of the House Science Committee can be so wrong on basic facts of biology, can I expect a traumatized woman in my exam room to have a clearer understanding of rape and pregnancy?
I will be reporting on three health issues that affect Latino families in North Texas, as part of my National Health Journalism Fellowship.
Why are Hispanic teens in Connecticut having more babies despite a national drop in teen pregnancy rates? Magaly Olivero is launching a reporting project with the Connecticut Health Investigative Team to find out.
