Xochitil Casanova, 19 (l.), with 1-month-old Mayte, and Rosalie Delgado, 19, are counseled by Romilda Grella
‘Babies’ Having Babies Statistics Grow In The Bronx
Welcome to the bleak world of teen pregnancy in the South Bronx.
When Maria was smuggled across the Mexican border four years ago, she was hoping for a better life.
But Maria (not her real name), a pretty 17-year-old, didn’t enroll in school or learn English. Instead, she stayed in her sister’s apartment watching television. She eventually found work packing aromatic candles in a factory, where she met her now-18-year-old boyfriend.
With her mother living in Mexico and her father dead, Maria was eager to start her own family. She saw plenty of teenage mothers in her South Bronx neighborhood, became pregnant and moved in with her boyfriend’s family.
Without citizenship or an education, her chances of escaping the poverty plaguing the South Bronx are slim. As a teenage mother, her prospects are even bleaker. But in the South Bronx, Maria’s story is fairly common.
The South Bronx has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in New York City, according to the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, ahead of Central Harlem and North and Central Brooklyn.
Fifteen percent of girls aged 15-19 became pregnant in the South Bronx in 2005, compared to 9.4% in all of New York City.
The borough’s rate is double the national average.
“One of the things you have in the South Bronx is a high concentration of poverty — teenagers who have low access to jobs and education,” said Robert Leibson Hawkins, an assistant professor of social work at New York University. “Whenever you have that type of environment, you wind up having high rates of teen pregnancy.”
Hawkins explained that while most teens are aware of birth control, they don’t always use it. Since there is a lack of jobs and few of the youngsters attend college, teenage pregnancy doesn’t carry the same stigma often found in other communities. Read more..
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