In the latest installment of Simply Stated, Population Left Behind 2009: Targeting College Campuses in SC, the SC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy identifies South Carolina's older youth and young adults (ages 18-19) as a population left behind in the fight against teen pregnancy. While older youth account for about two-thirds of all teen pregnancies in South Carolina, most pregnancy prevention efforts target youth 17 years or younger.

With over 210,000 students of all ages enrolled in four year colleges in the state of South Carolina and 20,000 18-19 year olds enrolled in public two year colleges, the college campus could provide a very efficient setting for teen pregnancy prevention programs among this population. Of schools surveyed, 87% indicated that they offered a freshman seminar course; however, only about a third provided sexual health information during this course. The survey also found that while most health centers (83%) provided condoms, only 29% provide birth control pills and almost half of all schools do not have a health center at all.

While both two year and four year institutions agree that the campus does have a role to play in the prevention of unintended pregnancies among young adults, two-year schools often have fewer resources (student health centers, sexual health information, etc.) and provide limited sexual health information and services for their students. There is room to expand pregnancy prevention programming in both two and four year schools by integrating sexual health information and partnering with community organizations.

"Unintended pregnancy makes it harder to complete college, and children born to teen mothers are more likely to drop out of school," said Sarah Kershner, Research and Evaluation Specialist at the SC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. "The findings from this research underscore the need for colleges to partner with community organizations to increase sexual health information and services to students."

Based on these findings, the report provides three recommendations to help address the needs of a population that has been left behind.

This installment of Simply Stated is a condensed version of the SC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy's Population Left Behind 2009 full report. A second Simply Stated has also been produced highlighting the overall affect of teen pregnancy on all 18-19 year olds.