Informed teen girls are “Girls With Options”

A number of years ago, Colorado became a pioneer in a movement that many hope will sweep the nation.

It’s a common sense approach whose time has come.

This year, PCCY hopes to chart a path to replicate Colorado’s high flying success in Philadelphia. 

We’re not talking about the legalization of marijuana here. We’re talking about a strategy that has led to what may be the most dramatic reduction of teen pregnancies and abortions ever seen.

The Colorado Family Planning initiative was launched in 2008. According to Colorado health officials, between 2009 and 2017, birth rates for teens aged 15-19 dropped by more than 50 percent. Teen abortion rates dropped by a stunning 64%.

PCCY’s approach, like Colorado’s, is to empower teen girls to make informed choices about the full array of contraceptive options that make sense for them by educating them on the effectiveness and simplicity of intrauterine devices (IUDs) and implants, a match-size device that is inserted in a woman’s upper arm. 

Using LARCs means not having to fill prescriptions and having to remember to take a pill from anywhere between three to ten years. When women wish to get pregnant, they need to have the device removed. 

Health advocates blame poor IUD design in the 1970s for low usage rates of LARCs in the United States. LARCs also have a history of being associated with curtailing the reproductive freedom of black and immigrant women in the name of public welfare or paternalistic ideas of what’s best for these women. 

But modern IUDs are very safe and implants are considered the most effective birth control method available. The vast majority of pregnancies among teens are unintended. For girls and women who desire more control over when they become parents, LARCs can be a good option, yet less than one out of a hundred girls are familiar with or using LARCs.

As found in the rest of the country, Philadelphia’s rate of teen pregnancies have been declining but rates for African American and Hispanic girls remain disturbingly high compared to their white peers.

So PCCY has launched a brand new initiative called Girls With Options to reach out to primarily African American and Latina teen girls to make sure they know LARCs can be a safe and reliable option for them and also to let them know how to get one. After consultation with experts and focus testing, we’ve designed Girls With Options as an engaging workshop for girls ages 13 and older.  

We’re currently scheduling a slate of workshops with schools, community-based partners and other organizations that work with youth. If you work with girls or know of an organization that does, contact us to schedule a Girls With Options session. 

We’re also looking to hire a part-time, bilingual Spanish/English Girls With Options health educator. Help us get the word out! Click here for job description and contact information and please RETWEET!