HFA Looks at SA's Strengths, Gaps

On February 21st, members and friends of the Healthy Futures Alliance (HFA) worked together to identify San Antonio's resources, strengths, and gaps in teen pregnancy prevention. 

The lively group discussion identified many strengths, including UT Teen Health, Metro Health's 1115 Waiver Projects, and Healthy Futures of Texas parent programs that are helping to address teen pregnancy.  Gaps identified included lack of evidence-based programs in some school districts and the need for more effective after-school programs and mentors.

The full list of strengths and gaps is posted on the Healthy Futures of Texas Website.  Participants looked at all 5 areas of the Strategic Plan Logic Model developed by the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Collaborative.

HFA is a key part of our progress, especially in the categories of Community Mobilization and Stakeholder Education.  HFA brings together individuals from a variety of community organizations, professional backgrounds, and health organizations to work towards the common goal of prevention.

Together as a community, we need to fill existing gaps in order to reach our SA2020 goal of reducing the teen birth rate by 25% by the year 2020.   

Abortion Rates Declining 

What are the reasons for recent decline? According to the researchers, the decline has various causes, including the steep drop in overall pregnancy and birth rates.  In addition, there is thought to be a contribution from an increase in the use of long acting reversible birth control methods, such as intra-uterine devices and implants. These methods can last for years and are not prone to user error like the pill or condoms.  Their use has been found to mean fewer unplanned pregnancies and abortions.

The Guttmacher analysis examined a possible contribution of new restrictive abortion laws.  However, these were deemed unlikely to be responsible for decreasing abortion rates.  Most of the restriction were passed in 2011 or later, and the authors doubt that restrictions are the cause of the decline. (Photo: Guttmacher Institute)