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Every May, the nation recognizes Teen Pregnancy Prevention Awareness. For the past two decades, the nation recognizes the decline in teen pregnancy and birth rates in the United States. Since the early 1990s, teen pregnancy and birth rates in the United States have declined by 55% and 64% among all racial/ethnic groups and are now at record low levels.   New Jersey’s teen pregnancy rate has dropped 54% since 1990.

Strategies to prevent teen pregnancy are as follows:

  • Have the sex talk. 
  • Explain safe sex.
  • Teach her/him to respect themselves. 
  • Encourage abstinence. 
  • Lay out the consequences. 
  • Encourage him/her to gain experience caring for a baby. 
  • Discuss the options. 
  • Don't make sex a taboo subject.

To assist you in being a catalyst for change, we have attached the Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Adolescent Health, National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month Supporter Kit. You can select any or all of the 12 activities to get involved. Just get involved! 

One important way to get involved in teen pregnancy awareness is to educate your community about New Jersey’s Safe Haven Infant Protection Act.   Safe Haven can be a critical resource to help save an infant’s life. It allows an individual (the parents or someone acting on their behalf) to surrender an infant safely, legally and anonymously. You can leave an unharmed baby less than 30 days old with staff at any hospital emergency room, police station, fire station, ambulance, first aid or rescue squad. The New Jersey Department of Children and Families will ensure that the infant is placed with a foster or pre-adoptive home.  To find out and share more information about New Jersey’s Safe Haven program, visit http://njsafehaven.org ; or call 1-877-839-2339.

Additional resources:

Office of Adolescent Health Get Involved! In National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month  https://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/sites/default/files/get-involved-tpp-month.PDF

Center for Disease Control and  Prevention, National Prevention Information Network https://npin.cdc.gov/pages/national-teen-pregnancy-prevention-month