Fifty-three percent of Latina teens get pregnant at least once before the age of twenty (National Campaign to Stop Teen Pregnancy). Thirty-one percent of the births in 2002 were to Latina teen moms, and 43 percent were to white teen moms. Latina girls are more likely to get treated differently than non-Hispanic mothers. This is because they are most likely to have a lower education level and income level, and because they live in poor neighborhoods.

Many Latina teens get treated differently whether or not they are pregnant. There’s this stereotype of Latina girls being “easy” to boys. Not every Latina girl gets pregnant at a young age, nor do they let boys take advantage of them. Latina teen moms should not get treated differently than any other teen mom, and Latina girls shouldn’t have that stereotype put on them.

Most Latina girls first have sex when they are 13 or 14 years of age. Which means, the sooner they have sex, the more likely they are to get pregnant. The pregnancy rate goes up even more because the Latino race is less likely to use contraceptives after their first time. Contraceptives such as condoms and birth control could against their religion, therefore they do not use them. But, if they don’t want to get pregnant at a young age, they should not have sex.

There are a variety of groups within the Latino race. Puerto Rican teen mothers are less likely to get married and are less likely to live with their parents. Puerto Rican teen mothers are more likely to receive welfare and live in poverty. The Latino group that struggles the least are Cubans. They have the highest incomes and the lowest rates of welfare participation. Some girls in the Latino groups are unable to get on welfare because they are immigrants and are not able to qualify.

A lot of teen mothers end up dropping out of high-school because they had gotten pregnant. Sixty-nine percent of Latina teen moms drop out of high-school, never to return. Only 4 percent finished high school and went onto college in 2002.

Now, just because there are a lot of Latina teens who have gotten pregnant, and are getting pregnant, their actions do not represent all the Latina girls. Some Latina teen moms do go back to school, and provide a better future for her and her baby, with or without the father.

Not every Latina girl is “easy”, and not every Latina girl gets pregnant as a teenager. Don’t judge a girl off of her face or the things you’ve heard about her, because they’re most likely not true.




Bibliography
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http://www.prcdc.org/files/Latina_Teen_Pregnancy.pdf
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http://bixbycenter.ucsf.edu/publications/files/Latino.sti.pdf
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http://www.familyfirstaid.org/teen-pregnancy.html
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http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/
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http://www.childtrendsdatabank.org/