| By Bob Weaver
When news came that West Virginia was the only state in the nation with a rising teen pregnancy rate, eyebrows throughout the Mountain State went up.
Acccording to the Centers for Disease Control, Calhoun and Clay were among five West Virginia counties leading the nation in childbirth between ages 15-19.
The shock continued when word spread that teen pregnancies had increased 17 percent in the Mountain State.
According to WV Vital Statistics, in Calhoun a 2009 preliminary number of childbirths for girls between 15-19 was 102.2 per thousand, an extraordinarly high number, much higher than the previous two years.
Locally, it has been difficult to sustain the accurancy of the high number.
Calhoun Superintendent of Schools Roger Propst said the Calhoun school system does not keep records of students enrolled in school who become pregnant.
Females under 15 have been reported pregnant in the county.
The Centers for Disease control says Calhoun, Clay, McDowell, Mingo and Tyler counties have an average of 93.3 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19, with Calhoun reaching 102.2.
West Virginia's counties in the 15-to-19-year-old birthrate group averaged 49.7 births per 1,000 in 2009, with the nation's average at 39.1 per thousand, the lowest rate in 70 years.
The five counties with the lowest rates of teen birth are Brooke, Monongalia, Pleasants, Putnam and Tucker, with an average of 25 births per 1,000 females.
The CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey of 2009 indicated that West Virginia has a higher rate of teen sexual activity than the national average.
Dr. Brenda Dawley of WV Perinatal Partnership, chairwoman of the Central Advisory Council and chairwoman of the Committee on Unplanned Pregnancy, says West Virginia teens are not using condoms, which hasn't changed much since 1990.
Some of the state's church groups have opposed general sex education and the promotion or issuance of condoms, with sex education in public schools varying widely from county to county.
Officials say there are few clear resources identified for how teachers can teach the tricky subject, still half of all WV students are having sex before they graduate, many now starting at middle school age.
Margaret Chapman Pomponio, executive director of WV FREE, a nonprofit organization which advocates for woman's health, says although there is no particular reason pinpointed for West Virginia's problem, poverty is a factor.
Factors contributing to West Virginia's higher teen birthrate include: lack of parental involvement, transportation restrictions, limited access to family planning services, abortion care and inadequate insurance coverage, according to the 2011 Report on Teen Pregnancy and Childbearing in West Virginia.
Calhoun is among the USA's 100 poorest counties, with Kids Count saying about one-third of the county's children are living in poverty, with about 70% eligible for free and reduced school lunch.
Calhoun was among ten WV counties in 2009 with a large number of cases of neglect and child abuse with 43.09 cases per thousand, with the state average at 18.9 per thousand.
Recent statistics on the abuse of prescription/illegal drug and alcohol abuse are not available, but former studies say the county had one of the bigger problems in the state.
Pomponio said, "We think it should be a wake-up call for West Virginia to begin collaborative approaches to teen pregnancy and childbearing."
She tied the rising rate to the fact that West Virginia is the only state that leaves pregnancy and birth control for dependant minors out of its health care coverage.
Pomponio said teen pregnancies cost the state $67 million in 2008, before the jump in pregnancies happened.
She said WV FREE is working with Auburn University to look at teen pregnancies regionally to try to isolate what might be different about West Virginia.
"The recommendations are clear," said Delegate Don Perdue, D-Wayne, chairman of an interim legislative committee and also the House Health and Human Resources. "You start connecting the dots, and the dots start to look like a barbed wire fence."
"We've got to deal with this one way or another," he concluded.
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