A conference today in Chapel Hill is focused on sexual health in the young Hispanic population. It's being hosted by the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina. Spokeswoman Elizabeth Finley says they'll be exploring how to tackle the staggering problem of teen pregnancy in the Hispanic community.
Elizabeth Finley: "Half of all Latina girls get pregnant before age 20 in the United States. That's a higher rate than we see with our white teens and with our African-American teens. Teen pregnancy is one of those equal opportunity issues. Any teenager is vulnerable to it, but we know that our Latina girls face some special issues in terms of prevention."
Finley says some of those issues include cultural gender roles, and inequities in future opportunities.
Finley: "...and then also the access to healthcare issues. We see in lots and lots of studies that our Latina youth have difficulty accessing healthcare, whether it's because they're in a rural community or because they just don't have the financial access to it."
This year's conference will include speakers from the JSI Institute, a national health group. It's from 8:30 to 4 pm at the Friday Center.