Teen births decline in Port Huron

Christine Davis said she felt like she beat the odds stacked against teen moms when she had her first daughter at the age of 16.

“She’s a great kid. She’s well-behaved. She’s doing well in school. She’s got great friends,” Davis said of her daughter, now 10. “I had a lot of support from my mother and from her dad’s parents. … I was able to graduate from high school on time with my friends. I always got really good grades in school.”

Fewer girls are having to deal with Davis’ choices and challenges.

Fewer teen girls in Port Huron are giving birth, according to statistics from the Michigan League for Public Policy.

The number of Port Huron births that were to teen mothers declined from 14.8 percent in 2004-06 to 13.5 percent in 2011-13. From 2011 to 2013, 473 babies were born in Port Huron. Sixty-four were born to teens, and 16 were born to teens who were already mothers.

But the promising trend of declining teen birth rates could undergo a reversal following the loss of Title X funding last year in St. Clair County, health department medical director Dr. Annette Mercatante said.

The Title X family planning program provided birth control to teens without parental consent for at least 20 years. The only option available in the area for confidential birth control services for minors, the service was transferred to Downriver Community Services before being discontinued in 2014, according to health department officials.

“We are certainly fearful that when the numbers start coming in post-program we will see an uptick (in teen births). I certainly hope not,” Dr. Mercatante said.

Despite the overall decline in teen births, Port Huron still ranked among the top ten municipalities in the state.

Detroit, Flint and Highland Park had higher rates than Port Huron, with 16 percent of births to teenagers. The Michigan cities with the lowest teen births rates were Royal Oak, Troy, West Bloomfield Township, Ann Arbor and Rochester Hills, where just 1 percent of births were to teens.

One of the key policy recommendations from the Michigan League for Public Policy was to “make it easy for teens who are already sexually active to get services, including birth control, other medical care and sex education that has been proven to work.”

The report recommended that policymakers ensure access to affordable contraception that includes a full range of methods, and that healthcare providers can increase the availability of birth control to sexually active teens and provide instruction on using methods consistently and correctly.

Dr. Mercatante said the Title X program was a good program but was cut from the health department budget in 2012 because it wasn’t a mandated service. The service was turned over to Downriver Community Services, which also ended up discontinuing it.

St. Clair County teens over age 12 seeking birth control without parental consent are referred to health departments in Macomb and Sanilac, but transportation often proves to be a barrier. The Teen Health Center in Port Huron offers counseling services, pregnancy testing and referrals for birth control but is prohibited from dispensing birth control on school grounds.

Kathy Bladow, nursing supervisor and W.I.C. coordinator for St. Clair County Health Department, supervised the Title X program at the health department for 12 years. The program provided pelvic exams, PAP smears and breast exams in addition to all types of birth control.

“It was a Title X clinic so teens could come to that clinic without parental knowledge and receive their birth control. And you cannot do that in a private physician’s office. We can’t do that at the Teen Health Center because they’re on school grounds. So that’s something we had right here for the teens in this community,” Bladow said.

“That was never our goal, to provide it to teens without parental knowledge. It was to provide it to teens who are in need of it and encourage like heck parental involvement … but a lot of them, I remember hearing teens say, ‘If my dad knew I was on this, he would kick me out of the house. So there were some sad cases and it was really good that we could provide that service.”

Dr. Mercatante said much of the community still is unaware of the loss of free birth control in the area.

“I still get calls at our call center. We were getting anywhere from five to 10 calls a week looking for birth control,” she said. “Our intent is to pursue that grant when it’s available. The problem is the grant does not cover the cost of services so we have to carve out of our budget somehow those dollars and right now we don’t have any spare revenue anywhere to do that. I think partnering with one of our health care delivery services is an option, so we’re actively looking at that. There are creative ways to get things done when you stay focused. I just can’t really promise the community when we will have it back.”

Now a mother of four and on maternity leave from her job as a pediatric medical assistant, Davis, 26, reflected on her experience as a teen mother while receiving services for her three younger children, ages one month to age 3, at the W.I.C. center in Port Huron late Tuesday morning. The center is part of St. Clair County Health Department.

“I became sexually active when I was 14. But to be honest, a lot of girls my age were sexually active by then ...

“I remember health class when I was in eighth grade. I don’t remember going over the fact of what’s going to happen if you become sexually active. I feel like they could have addressed a lot more than they did,” Davis said.

“Teachers should be able to go in there and say, ‘This is what’s going to happen if you get pregnant. You’re going to have a baby. You’re not going to be able to go out with your friends. You’re not going to be able to go off to a university or travel or experience life. You’re going to be bolted down taking care of a child. That child has to come first. You don’t come first anymore. Anything that you want for yourself, you can’t want for yourself anymore. You have to want that for your child.”

Contact Syeda Ferguson at (810) 989-6276 or email her at syeda@thetimesherald.com. Follow her on Twitter@shossainfe.