South Carolina Agency Forced To Cut Teenage Pregnancy Program Because Of Budget

Main Category: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 01 Oct 2008 - 8:00 PST

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Despite recent increases in South Carolina's teen pregnancy rate, the state Department of Health and Human Resources on Friday announced that budget cuts have forced it to eliminate funding to the Medicaid Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Services program, or MAPPS, the Charleston Post and Courier reports (Coley, Charleston Post and Courier, 9/26). The state has provided $400,000 annually in funding for education and counseling for at-risk young women ages 10 to 19, and the federal government added a nine-to-one match to provide $3.6 million for the program each year, according to Jeff Stensland, spokesperson for the state health department.

The state on Friday notified the 40 groups that currently receive MAPPS funding about the cut. Stensland said an order last month from the Budget and Control Board to reduce the Medicaid budget by 3% required the agency to cut MAPPS, which was the only program within the health department to be eliminated. The funding will stop on Dec. 31.

The AP/Columbia State reports that the program served 6,742 young people last school year. The program identifies at-risk girls partly by whether they are in low-income families, whether their parents or siblings were teen parents and if they have been abused or previously pregnant, according the AP/State. MAPPS also provides teens with counseling and education about family planning, goal-setting, how to refuse advances and other skills. In addition, it offers other services such as homework assistance and after-school programs, which can be tacked on the Medicaid reimbursements. Stensland said that Medicaid should cover only medical expenses and that the health department was concerned that the program could attract federal scrutiny (Adcox, AP/Columbia State, 9/26).

After a 25% decline in the teen pregnancy rate from 1994 to 2004, the teen pregnancy rate in South Carolina increased from 33 pregnancies per 1,000 female teens in 2004 to 36 pregnancies per 1,000 female teens in 2006, according to recent data from the state Department of Health and Environmental Control (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 9/18).

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Stensland said state Medicaid officials are concerned about the rise but think the program should be run by another agency. The health department began running the program in 2001, when it assumed control from the Department of Social Services, where it is better suited, Stensland said. He added that given the tight budget for the current fiscal year, it is unlikely another agency will take up the program.

Forrest Alton, director of the South Carolina Campaign To Prevent Teen Pregnancy, said, "At a time when teen pregnancy rates are increasing, it's not the time to be cutting programs," adding, "The elimination of the program is simply not the best solution. Clearly, there are other alternatives out there." Jane Riley -- executive director of Charleston County's Communities in Schools, a dropout prevention program -- said that it receives about 20% of its budget through MAPPS and that of the 280 children in the program last year, none became pregnant. Riley said the program will find a way to continue its work to prevent teen pregnancy but is not sure if other programs throughout the state will be able to do so as well. "I think it's shortsighted," Riley said, adding, "The ramification of what this will cost the state could be huge" (AP/Columbia State, 9/26).

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