Latina Pregnancy

This semester, I decided to take on an independent study with a focus on researching pregnancy rates among Latinas and how telenovelas may serve to wane this recent epidemic. I find no words to describe how astonished I was to read that 52% of Latinas will be pregnant before the age of 20. Especially, when there are statistics that show a 42% drop out rate among this adolescent population. Being a Latina, it is somewhat disappointing to learn that many girls are having children rather than graduating high school and going on to obtain a higher degree. In a sense, the cycle of young motherhood seems to continue among this population, and while some may not see anything wrong with this, I refuse to accept that this is the path that some Latinas will end up taking at such a young age.


As such, I took on the task of creating a YouTube video that looked at the factors that may lead to young pregnancy. One of the factors that kept popping up during my research was that while levels of teen pregnancy among Latinas keep rising, many parents refuse to speak with their daughters openly about safe sex practices or even the topic of sex. As my research showed, many mothers want to see their daughters as pure and dignified women that will remain chaste until marriage. This leads many mothers to view the topic of sex as taboo and one that doesn’t need to be discussed. However, this approach doesn’t seem to be beneficial because what ends up happening is that young Latinas are engaging in sexual intercourse but are unaware of how to go about it in a safe manner.

The reason I chose to center my video on the coveted telenovela was because research has shown the new trend that telenovelas are being used as public service announcements to the Latino community. When you think about it, it’s a great strategy especially now more than ever when some telenovelas are outscoring prime time American sitcoms with the number of viewers. This demonstrates that telenovelas are heavily watched among young Latinas, and therefore can be mediums in which to spread the word about issues affecting the community. In one article I found, one telenovela touched upon mammograms for women, and studies showed a great increase in the amount of women who signed up for a mammogram in response to watching it on the show. Another article showed how in Brazil, the birth rate seemed to drastically decline after many soap operas began addressing the issue. If this method can work for Brazil, why can’t it in the US?

After extensive research, I have come to the conclusion that it’s time that sex became an issue addressed among Latino families not only with young Latinas, but also with young Latinos. The topic can no longer be seen as forbidden and therefore ignored. Parents can no longer afford to ignore the issue and think that their child will remain pure until marriage. While abstinence would be the ideal situation for many parents, the truth is by age 15, many teens in the US will already be sexually active. Usually, the older the male partner is, the more likely teen girls are to be sexually active and less likely to use contraceptives. It is vital that parents begin to speak up and discuss the negative consequences that may result from engaging in sexual practices too early and with little to no protection. Until the issue is addressed, it doesn’t seem like the pregnancy rate among young Latinas will decrease.