05/04/15  Teen Pregnancies

State Department of Higher Education staff will soon begin to piece together a plan to address unplanned pregnancies among older teens. According to a new law, Act 943 of 2015, the state's Higher Education Coordinating Board, the executive arm of the department, will need to have a plan in place by November 3, 2015.

According to state data, teenagers in Arkansas gave birth to nearly 41 hundred children in 2013.  Of those, 3 thousand 30 were from women aged 18 and 19. The plan will provide unplanned pregnancy prevention information to college students, and identifying grant funding for prevention activities and educational challenges faced by single parents.  The plan will address men as well as women.l