Only a few short months into her senior year of high school in 2004, Jennifer Stone of Marietta realized the unthinkable she was pregnant. According to a report by the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit organization with a focus on sexual and reproductive health issues worldwide, teenage pregnancy rates and birthrates declined during the 1990s to record low levels. The percentage of births to local teen mothers was 16 percent of all births, but in 2005, the numbers had dropped to 10 percent, said Kathy Boersma, director of the Community Action Family Health Services, 696 Wayne St. Family Health Services offers women full reproductive health services, prenatal care, the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) nutrition program, counseling, family planning information and tests for sexually transmitted diseases. Stone returned to school at the Washington County Career Center to complete high school. read more

Technorati Tags: health, school, teen, county, stone, children, pregnancy news