The number of teens giving birth in DuPage County increased by almost 9 percent from 2005 to 2006, according to Illinois Department of Public Health statistics released last week.

The increase in DuPage is more than double the statewide rise in teen births and is a larger jump than was seen in suburban Cook and Will counties. Kane County saw a 3.8 percent decrease in the number of 10- to 19-year-olds giving birth from 2005 to 2006, the most recent year for which numbers are available.

Downers Grove, Bloomingdale, Willowbrook, Naperville, Roselle and Hinsdale are some of the communities that saw increases.

While the total number of teens giving birth increased, DuPage is the third lowest county in Illinois in the percentage of all births that involve teenage mothers. Of the 11,868 babies born in the county in 2006, 4.7 percent were born to teen mothers, up from 4.1 percent the previous year.

Lorene Pesole is program manager for teen parent services at the DuPage County Health Department. She said the increase in teen births is small when population increases are taken into account.

It is hard to tell how many more teens lived in DuPage County in 2006 than in 2005, so looking only at the number of births can be misleading, Pesole said.

Pesole said it is difficult to pinpoint why teens are giving birth in increasing numbers, but lack of information about safe sexual practices and the risk of pregnancy most likely is not the problem.

“What we find is that the kids do have all the information,” she said. “But when we work with teens, they often say, ‘I knew I could get pregnant; I just didn’t think it would happen to me.’”

Lora Vitek is a spokeswoman for the Glen Ellyn-based nonprofit organization Teen Parent Connection.

Vitek said she believes the glamorization of teen motherhood in the media is a more significant factor than population growth in the rise in teen pregnancy. Magazine articles about Jamie Lynn Spears’ recent pregnancy and movies such as the Academy Award-winning “Juno” show teen pregnancy without all its consequences, she said.

“Jamie Lynn Spears may have resources our teenagers here in DuPage County don’t have,” Vitek said.

To combat such images, Teen Parent Connection sends health educators and teen parents into junior high and high school classes throughout DuPage and surrounding counties to talk to students about pregnancy. The health educators provide information about preventing pregnancy, while teen parents give students firsthand accounts of what life is like with a baby.
Teen Parent Connection spoke to more than 13,000 students last year.

Pesole said she does not believe the media’s treatment of teen motherhood is a leading cause for pregnancy among the age group.

“There isn’t any one factor we can point at to tell us why teens get pregnant,” she said. “That would be the magic.”

The Health Department’s teen parent services program offers resources to help teenage mothers to continue in school. The program helps the teens overcome transportation issues and other obstacles that might prevent them from graduating.

About 200 teens participate in the program each year. Of participants eligible to graduate high school, about 70 percent receive a diploma, Pesole said.

To learn more about the Health Department’s programs, call (630) 682-7400 or visit www.dupagehealth.org. To learn more about Teen Parent Connection, call (630) 790-8433 or visit www.teenparentconnection.org.