[njohnson]

To me it all comes down to the family of the child. The family structure affects everything, your morals, your knowledge, who your peers are, your goals and aspirations, and who you mimic.

I am currently in Meriden. My girlfriend has taught ESL students for several years but has just moved to regular 4th grade children. During her ESL years she was appalled at how little the parents cared compared to her current parents. Many of her children saw things in their houses that just should not be seen by young eyes including drugs, beatings, rape, and other siblings doing the same.

Way too often from poor areas you have family members who are working multiple jobs just to put food on the table and have no time for their children, they come from broken relationships where a second parent isn't around, or children see a way of life from an early time that eventually becomes how they live their lives because it is all they know.

Unfortunately it's not so easy to break this cycle. Today's schools try to push these children along and not hold them back too long so what happens is they enter our schools already behind and by the time they get to high school they are so far behind with no hope and many fail and live the lives they do.

[kidyankee764]

It's very common for women and teens up here to use contraceptives ... in much of the south, specifically the bible belt, it's frowned upon. That said, I don't think abortion rates have anything to do with politics.

Documented abortion's in Connecticut represent 1.4% of total abortions in the nation. California, 17.3%; Florida, 7.7; Texas, 7.1; Georgia, 2.8; Virginia, 2.2; Massachusetts, 2.3; Alabama, .9; Mississippi, .3; Utah, .3; New Hampshire, .3; Maine, .2; Vermont, .1%.

Source: Contraception Counts: Maine

There is a significant margin of error with this because many have to travel for this kind of service, and I'm sure there are plenty of unreported abortions - I just don't buy that the only people not reporting them are those in the "liberal" or northern states. That's ridiculous.

[Rich Lee]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Documented abortions in Connecticut represent 1.4% of total abortions in the nation. California, 17.3%; Florida, 7.7; Texas, 7.1; Georgia, 2.8; Virginia, 2.2; Massachusetts, 2.3; Alabama, .9; Mississippi, .3; Utah, .3; New Hampshire, .3; Maine, .2; Vermont, .1%.

This makes sense since Connecticut's population is 1.17% of the total population of the nation.

[mlassoff]

Originally Posted by RedNeckHillbilly

Blacks. (Miss. has the highest black pop in U.S.)

Wow.. 8 posts and you've already managed to demonstrate both serious racism and homophobia. I'm sure anti-semitisim is coming....

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by RedNeckHillbilly

Apparently you've never lived in the Deep South. It's the truth. The reason Mississippi has the highest rate of unwed teen births is because it also has the highest percentage black population.

Ad hominem attacks (using the R-word) will not change that.

Do you have facts to back this claim up? Not challenging it, just wondering what the stats are...

[mlassoff]

Originally Posted by RedNeckHillbilly

Apparently you've never lived in the Deep South. It's the truth. The reason Mississippi has the highest rate of unwed teen births is because it has the highest percentage black population.

Ad hominem attacks (using the R-word) will not change that.

Really? Maybe its the racism prevalent in places like the deep south that is causal in blacks having a limited opportunity structure that leads to the high teen pregnancy rate? Seems that West Virginia's poor rural population also has an alarmingly high teen pregnancy rate... Very few blacks to be found there.. As a matter a fact some would inappropriately refer to these poor rural whites as "red neck hillbillies." Of course, I don't make sweeping generalizations about "red neck hillbillies" because that would be inappropriate.

As someone who has used in posts today negative references towards blacks and a slur against homosexuals, I'm not sure the "r-word" is inappropriate.

Read some actual scholarly work on the issue... Or have someone read it to you.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by RedNeckHillbilly

You don't need a census report to see the obvious. It's their culture and lifestyle. Also known as the welfare culture. Start having babies early and keep having them until they've got the better part of a dozen, sometimes even more.

But I'm sure the official statistics bear it out too.

You are correct - MS does have the highest amount of counties with a large percentage of AAs. Same goes for much of the South. It'd be interesting to see the stats for teen pregnancies by race.

I don't know if I can buy the black/welfare deal without stats to back it up. It seems to be more the lowest income states have highest teen birth rates, and the higher income states have the lowest. Could be urbanized areas vs rural areas. Blindly accusing MS's no. 1 spot on AAs is premature and, IMO, a little ignorant. Researching such things before coming to a conclusion are the elements of a good case study.

[Stratford, Ct. Resident]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Do you have facts to back this claim up? Not challenging it, just wondering what the stats are...

Here's one of his "facts": http://www.city-data.com/forum/6933449-post9.html

Note reason #3.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by Stratford, Ct. Resident

Here's one of his "facts": http://www.city-data.com/forum/6933449-post9.html

Note reason #3.

Thanks for pointing that out. Pretty disgusting...