West Virginia Perinatal Partnership

Committee on Unplanned Pregnancies

Co-Chairs
--Anne Williams, Director, Division of Perinatal and Women’s Health, WVDHHR
--Brenda Dawley, MD, Chair, WV Chapter of American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Associate Professor, Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, Marshall University  
Members
--Terri Bliziotes, Director of Quality and Health Center Continuity, WV Primary Care Association
--Shelley Baston, Deputy Commissioner – Medicaid, WVDHHR
--Margaret Chapman, Executive Director, WV FREE
--Sheryn Carey, Office of Minority Health, WVDHHR
--Ann Dacey, Nurse Coordinator, WV Perinatal Partnership
--Sam Hickman, WV Association of Social Workers
--Patricia Kelly, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, Marshall University
--Becky King, WV School-Based Health Association
--Cinny Kittle, Project Director, Day One, WV Hospital Association
--Wendy Moore, Health Programs Coordinator, Partnership of African American Churches
--Angelita Nixon, President, WV Chapter American College of Nurse Midwives
--Renate Pore, Director, WV Center for Budget and Policy
--Rebecca King, Coordinator, HIV Prevention Education, Office of Healthy Schools, WV Department of Education
--Denise Smith, Director, Director, State Family Planning Program, WVDHHR
--Nancy Tolliver, Director, WV Perinatal Partnership
--Angie Whitley, Partners in Community Outreach, Huntington, WV
--Penny Womeldorff, RN, WV Healthy Start/HAPI Project, Morgantown, WV  
Staff
--Joyce W. Daniels, Consultant to the WV Perinatal Partnership, Project Director – WV Healthy Pregnancies and Babies

Unplanned Pregnancy in West Virginia is a Serious Problem. 

Unplanned pregnancy is a serious social problem in West Virginia.  About 43% of West Virginia births are the result of an unplanned pregnancy.  Studies show that unplanned pregnancy is at the root of a number of important public health and social challenges. Children born from unplanned pregnancies are at increased risk of low birth weight, developmental delays, and poverty.  And this translates into high public sector costs for health care, social services, and education in West Virginia.  The majority of unintended pregnancies occur among single women, but close to 30% also occur among married women.  Women between the ages of 20-29 are most vulnerable to an unintended pregnancy.

To study unintended pregnancy, the causes, and the potential remedies, the West Virginia Perinatal Partnership has partnered with The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.  Our focus of this study is on women ages 20-29.  The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC that has experience and expertise in studying the issue in other states.  For more than a decade, the National Campaign has worked to reduce teen pregnancy—and is now expanding its mission to also focus on preventing unplanned pregnancy among young adults. 

In early 2008, West Virginia professionals, policy makers, and young adults participated with the National Campaign on a Learning Tour—as one site in a series of meetings with national, state, and community leaders across the country— to ask these experts how they saw the problem of unplanned pregnancy among single, young adults. This diverse cross-section of leaders, professionals, providers, policy-makers, and advocates were generous with their time and offered many thoughtful insights about how best to address the challenge of unplanned pregnancy in the United States. The findings from this Learning Tour are helping to inform the work of The National Campaign. We also believe that these insights will be helpful to colleagues who are working on this critical social problem across the country.  Read the report of the West Virginia meetings.  

For more than a decade the births to West Virginia teens had consistently declined, and between 1991 and 2004 teen births had dropped by 24%.  Then, in 2006, the rate of teen childbearing in the state increased, with alarming social and economic costs. A white paper addresses the problem: Study on the Incidence of Teen Pregnancy and Childbearing in West Virginia (October 2008).  The purpose of this report is to 1) highlight the incidences and effects of teen pregnancy and childbearing in West Virginia as compared to the national landscape, and 2) identify strategies and policies aimed at reducing teen pregnancy. 
 
We are now undertaking a new project, funded by the National Campaign, to reduce unplanned pregnancies among young adults, based upon the findings of the study conducted in April 2008.  Among the goals are:

• To advocate for a Medicaid waiver for family planning services for up to two years after the birth of a child;
• To initiate a pregnancy planning component as part of pre- and post-natal visits, working with agencies and organizations that provide in-home parenting education; and
• To research efforts in other states and develop a widely-supported West Virginia action plan to reduce unplanned pregnancies among young adults.

For further information please contact:
Joyce Daniels
2207 Washington Street East
Charleston, WV 25311
Telephone (304)346-8176
e-mail:  joyce.w.daniels@verizon.net

Downloads Relating to Unplanned Pregnancy

U.S. Teenage Pregnancies, Births and Abortions: National and State Trends and Trends by Race and Ethnicity.  This 2010 publication by Alan Guttmacher Institute on Teen Pregnancy by state and ethnicity is available on line.  One finding is that • Among states with available data, Arkansas had the highest pregnancy rate among non-Hispanic white teenagers (67 per 1,000). Pregnancy rates among this group were also high in other Southern states: Tennessee, South Carolina, Kentucky, West Virginia and Mississippi (60–63 per 1,000). Meanwhile, Minnesota had the lowest rate among non-Hispanic white teenagers(29 per 1,000), followed by Wisconsin, North Dakota and Pennsylvania (31–34). 

Diploma Attainment Among Teen Mothers  New Child Trends research finds that one in three (34 percent) young women who had been teen mothers did not earn a high school diploma or a GED, compared with only 6 percent of young women who had not had a teen birth. "Earning a high school diploma or GED reduces the risk of subsequent teen pregnancy, which has been linked to even poorer outcomes," said Kate Perper, M.P.P., lead author of the study. "Higher parental education is also linked to improved outcomes among children that may reduce their risk of early sexual activity and teen pregnancy, thus reducing intergenerational cycles of disadvantage."

A Study on West Virginia Health Education and Teen Perinatal Outcomes a report from Edvantia in response to State Legislative HRC 53

Spacing between Pregnancies is a Healthy Choice.  Waiting until the youngest child is two years old before becoming pregnant again is healthy for moms, babies, and families.  (PDF)

The Adolescent Pregnancy – Risks and Complications, a Powerpoint presentation by Brenda Dawley, MD, February 2009.

West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Family Planning Program, a Powerpoint presentation by Denise Smith, Director of Family Planning, WVDHHR, February 2009.

Unplanned Pregnancy in West Virginia,” a Powerpoint presentation with facts and figures about the extent of the problem and issues of concern to the WV Perinatal Partnership, updated February 2009.

Medicaid Matters: A Medicaid Waiver for Family Planning Can Improve Health and Save Dollars, a white paper prepared by the WV Center on Budget and Policy, 2008.

Study on the Incidence of Teen Pregnancy and Childbearing in West Virginia.  White paper published in October 2008.

Report of the Learning Tour in West Virginia.  A summary of meetings on unplanned pregnancies among young adults, held in April 2008.

Unplanned Pregnancy Among 20-Somethings: Key Facts and Consequences.  A PDF authored by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy

Unplanned Pregnancy Among 20-Somethings:  The Full Story.   A PDF authored by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy

Unintended Pregnancy in West Virginia: 1996-2006.  A PowerPoint presentation by Melissa A. Baker, M.A., Office of Maternal, Child and Family Health, WV Bureau for Public Health

Unplanned Pregnancy Among 20-Somethings: The Full Story

Briefly: Strengthening America’s Family Planning Safety Net in the Context of Health Reform

The Mikulski Amendment: Preventive Services for Women

Family Planning Provisions in Current Federal Law and Other Health Reform Proposals

Direct Medical Costs of Unplanned Pregnancy and Cost Effectiveness of Preventing Unplanned Pregnancy

National Campaign Statement on the Preventing Unintended Pregnancy, Reducing the Need for Abortion, and Supporting Parents Act  ·        

National Campaign Statement on the Senate Finance Committee’s Vote on Health Reform -