A mother at 15, WHS grad hopes to beat the odds

LaVaisha Cumbee almost had an abortion when she found out she was pregnant at 15.

She was already five months along by that time and she was shocked, she said. She was also ashamed at having disappointed her parents and terrified by the idea of being a parent herself before she even went to her junior prom.

Her mother cried, but her step-father was calm. They took the news as well as could be expected and offered to support her in whatever she wanted to do. She opted for an abortion, going to North Carolina for the procedure.

“We found a place that would do it up to 28 weeks,” Cumbee recalled. “I just wanted to go and do it so no one would know I was pregnant.”

She remembers protesters standing outside the clinic, singing songs and holding signs with graphic depictions of aborted fetuses. Cumbee was crying as she entered the facility. But it was her first look at her daughter that changed her mind.

“They did an ultrasound and I saw her and really couldn’t do it.” Cumbee said. “My mom came back and I told her I didn’t want to have an abortion anymore.”

Seeing her child had made it seem more real and she decided she couldn’t end its life before it ever really got started.

When Cumbee, now 18, was pregnant, there were at least three of her classmates at Waccamawwho were pregnant at the same time, she said. There might have been more, but many girls have abortions and no one ever knows, she said.

Efforts to contact other teens who are pregnant or recently gave birth for this story were unsuccessful.

But teen pregnancy is a bigger issue in Georgetown County than many know, said Shanna M. Scott, education manager for Service Over Self, a youth volunteer and community support organization. Scott teaches sex education to kids ages 10-19 in area schools, churches and community groups that deal with teens.

In 2005, the most recent year she has statistics for, there were an estimated 123 teen pregnancies in the county.

Stacey Archer, a certified nurse midwife in Georgetown, estimates about half of the 147 babies she delivered last year were to teen moms.

Cumbee understands why some teens choose to end their pregnancies, she said, but she doesn’t regret the decision she made.

Cumbee’s choice to keep her daughter, Aeriana, changed the course of her life. And though it didn’t seem like it at the time, looking back, Cumbee believes it was a change for the better.

She loves her daughter, she said, and looks forward to guiding her as she grows up. Becoming a mother led her away from a path of destructive behavior.

“She makes me focus on the important things,” Cumbee said, holding her daughter in her lap at an area playground. “I’m not just thinking ‘party, party, party, football, get drunk, football.’ She made me really realize what I have to do in life. She made me mature a whole lot faster.”

Even at 2, Aeriana, is a lap full for Cumbee, who has always been petite, as she shyly hides her face in her mom’s neck. The love between the two is clear as Cumbee repeatedly strokes Aeriana’s back or hair.

But, admittedly, Cumbee still thinks about how her life might be different if she had made different decisions.

“It’s not about me anymore,” Cumbee said. “It’s all about her and what she wants. She has to be first. That takes some getting used to.”

Cumbee’s family has helped a lot with the raising of her daughter. They made it possible for Cumbee to keep going to school. She graduated from Waccamaw High School last year, but missed out on a lot of high school experiences, including the junior prom she would have otherwise attended. That event came just a few months after Aeriana was born on Nov. 18, 2005, and Cumbee was still carrying some extra weight from her pregnancy.

“I was kind of big and I didn’t want to go through trying to find a dress,” she said. “I didn’t feel like I was back where I needed to be.”

Thinking back to her social life after Aeriana came along, she said it was very limited.

“I didn’t get to do much and when I did do something, I had to ask my mom ahead of time to make sure she could keep Aeriana. It was just like I had no fun life,” she said.

A former cheerleader, Cumbee was still able to go to football games and events where she could bring her daughter along. But the parties that went on afterward became a thing of the past. Instead, she was spending the wee hours of the morning trying to quiet a crying baby. It was mostly at those times she wondered about how her life might have been if she’d made different choices, she said.

Cumbee did go to her senior prom and it was a night to remember, she said. Her parents kept Aeriana for the whole night and for that event, she was able to just be a high school student again.

“My phone didn’t ring one time,” she recalled. “It was really, really a relief.”

Cumbee’s parents are still helping her while she works at Pawleys Island Tavern and makes plans to start college in the fall. Another effect of being a mother is that most of her money goes to taking care of her daughter’s wants and needs. She does get financial help from her parents, but she tries to take as much of the financial burden as she can.

“I feel like it’s my responsibility,” she said. “It’s OK for them to help if I need it, but I like it to be mostly me.”

A lot of the teens Archer sees as a nurse or midwife were practicing safe sex, but “slipped up,” she said. They may have forgotten a pill or had a condom malfunction. Cumbee falls into that group.

In high school, Cumbee was also a member of the dance team and a good student. She never saw herself as “the kind of girl who would get pregnant at 15,” she said. She doubts anyone else expected it either.

The first time she talked about sex with her parents was when they found out she was pregnant. That subject just wasn’t one that was discussed in her home, she said, but she knew enough to practice safe sex when she became sexually active.

“I slipped up,” she said. “The condom broke. I was scared, but I took pregnancy tests and they said I wasn’t pregnant until I was five months along. I took that one and it came up a yes.”

Cumbee said she believed the initial tests, because her period never stopped during her pregnancy.

Her boyfriend at the time, Aeriana’s father, was 17. He was happy when he found out about the pregnancy, Cumbee said.

He isn’t a part of Aeriana’s life, however, Cumbee said. He wants to be, but “he’s having some legal issues,” she said, and needs to get his own life in order before he gets involved in that of his daughter.

One of Cumbee’s biggest worries when she realized she was pregnant was what her friends would say. She wanted them to treat her the same as they always had, she said. Her real friends didn’t disappoint her.

“They treated me like a queen,” Cumbee said. “They carried my books and got me stuff. Some of the others looked at me like, ‘why are you even in school?’ I was like, ‘we all make mistakes. I’m pregnant, you sniff coke, what’s the difference?’”

A lot of her male friends were curious. They asked all kinds of questions about how her body was changing with the new life inside and, after the baby was born, about the labor.

“They were just shocked at how a woman’s body works,” she said.

It was how a few of the teachers treated her that really surprised Cumbee. She won’t use any names, but said some were blatantly rude, treating her like she was less than human. She recalled an incident in the cafeteria. The lunch line was long, so she asked some one else to get her food for her.

“This teacher said, ‘you laid down to make it, why not just deal with the problems that come along with it,’” Cumbee said.

One teacher refused to let her go to the bathroom, she said. She couldn’t hold it, so she had to walk out.

She applied ahead of time to go on homebound, a program that sends a teacher to a student’s home to help them keep up with school work when they can’t be in school for an extended period, but it seemed to take forever. Georgetown County School District’s policy is to put pregnant students on homebound for six weeks, more if there are complications, on instruction from the student’s doctor.

“They said they couldn’t find a teacher who wanted to do it,” she said.

Cumbee eventually went into pre-term labor in school and was then put on homebound. She heard later, from the teacher who eventually took on the assignment, that some teachers hadn’t known she needed a homebound teacher. It hadn’t been brought up at meetings, she was told.

Not all the teachers treated her poorly though.

“Some were very nice,” Cumbee said. “It’s just the ones that weren’t were a shock.”

Cumbee was terrified of what child birth would be like, she said, and her fear grew as her due date neared.

“I wished I could make [my pregnancy] last a little longer,” she said. “I was so scared and my mom was like, ‘it’s going to be OK.’ I told her I knew she’d had me, but I had this little 16-year-old body. I was so little with the biggest belly.”

When the time came and she went into labor, she said she was afraid, but in a different way than she had expected.

“I wasn’t afraid so much of actually having a baby, but of the responsibility that came along with it,” she said. “I was afraid of the reality.”

She was hit hard with postpartum depression, she said, and not prepared mentally to be a mother. She had a crib and diapers, bottles and clothes — all the physical things she needed to take care of her daughter — but she worried she wasn’t yet equipped to provide her with all the other things a mother gives her child. She often felt lost, she said, trying to figure out what Aeriana needed when she started crying.

“It’s easier now, because she can kind of tell me what she wants,” Cumbee said.

When she went back to school, her friends were all surprised at how thin she looked.

“They didn’t realize I was wearing a girdle and support hose.”

She said she tried hard to hide the changes child birth had made on her body.

Cumbee worried that as a single mother, men wouldn’t be interested in her anymore, so when her current boyfriend expressed a romantic interest in her, she was floored.

“We were always good friends, so him wanting to talk to me on that level just shocked me,” she said. “I’m just thankful I found somebody who is so open to taking care of a child that’s not his own.”

Cumbee said she feels like she’s on a good path now and is looking forward to college in the fall, though she’s a little anxious, as well. She’s planning to live on campus while she studies nursing and nuclear science. Her parents will keep Aeriana.

“It will be hard for me,” Cumbee said. “I’m used to having her everywhere I go. I worry that she might forget me. The first five years are the impression years. My mom says that won’t happen, but I don’t know. I’m just afraid.”

Cumbee has applied to the University of South Carolina, Francis Marion University and Coastal Carolina University. She’s hoping to attend Coastal, she said, because it would keep her closer to her daughter.

Cumbee said she doesn’t know what her life would be like now if she hadn’t had supportive parents.

“I really don’t know what I would have done,” Cumbee said. “I couldn’t have done this on my own.

A problem that crosses the boundaries of race, income

As a certified nurse midwife in Georgetown, Stacey Archer knows exactly how big an issue teen pregnancy is in the county.

She works at Carolina OB/Gyn and at Dr. Paul Hletko’s pediatric office, so she often sees her patients from the start of their pregnancies and well into parenthood.

Of the 19 patients she saw Tuesday, nine were teens, she said. And she estimates about half of the 147 babies she delivered last year were to teen moms.

She has delivered babies for some teens twice in the past two years. Some just keep making the same mistakes, she said.

Numbers like that don’t come as a surprise to Shanna M. Scott, the education manager for Service Over Self, a youth volunteer and community support organization. Scott teaches sex education to kids ages 10-19 in area schools, churches and community groups that deal with teens.

In 2005, the most recent year she has statistics for, there were an estimated 123 teen pregnancies in Georgetown County. Most of those, 102, were in the western part of the county, but there were also 15 in the Pawleys Island area and six in Murrells Inlet.

Of those pregnancies, the majority, 65 percent, were among 18- and 19-year-olds. About one-third were among teens 15-17 years old, and three percent were among girls 10-14 years old.

Teen pregnancies have actually declined in the state and nationally in the last 15 years, but remain “all too common an occurrence,” said Forrest Alton, executive director of the S.C. Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.

The numbers in Georgetown County have also fallen since 1994. But the number of teen pregnancies rose 17.6 percent between 2002 and 2005.

“This is a huge issue that impacts everyone,” Alton said. “Every 58 minutes, a teen in our state becomes pregnant. And it’s happening in all races, all age groups and every socio-economic status.”

It also affects teens who live in all areas, Alton said, but teen pregnancy rates are higher in rural counties, such as Georgetown.

A big part of the problem is that a lot of parents don’t want anyone talking to their kids about sex, Scott said. But she believes kids need to be informed, so they can make smart decisions. That includes everything from arming them with information about sexually transmitted diseases and contraceptives, to talking to them about self-esteem and peer pressure.

Some parents think it’s enough to tell their kids to “just say no,” but they also need to know how to say no and understand the consequences they may be facing if they say yes, she said.

The mother of two 10-year-old girls, Scott is already having age-appropriate conversations about sex with her daughters, she said, and as part of her job, teaches parents how to do the same.

“People think if you don’t talk about sex, it won’t happen or if you do talk about it, they’ll go out and do it, but that’s not the case,” Scott said.

Archer also talks with teen patients about the ramifications and responsibilities that go along with having sex. She talks with them about their plans for the future and informs them that being a parent is a lifelong endeavor.

Many of Archer’s teen patients become wonderful moms, she said. They finish their educations and the responsibility of being a parent puts them back on the straight and narrow as they try to build a good life for their baby.

And they take precautions so their next pregnancy will be planned.

But even when the teen is an ideal mother, Archer said, it’s “a shame” to see girls finding themselves pregnant and weighed down with responsibilities they weren’t ready for because they were careless or made a mistake.

“Babies are wonderful, but girls seem to be having babies earlier and earlier,” she said.

Archer moved here from Atlanta and said she was surprised at how many teen pregnancies she’s seen since.

“I don’t know if it’s a geographical thing, but in Atlanta it wasn’t like this,” she said.

Many of Archer’s patients are practicing safe sex, she said, but have a slip up, such as a missed pill or broken condom.

She makes sure her patients realize that no form of birth control, excepting abstinence, is 100 percent effective, and the pill can’t prevent sexually transmitted diseases.

While teen pregnancy rates may be dropping nationally, Archer said STDs are at a high among teens.

According to figures from Advocates for Youth, a group that champions efforts to help young people make responsible decisions about their sexual health, 52 percent of high school students in South Carolina have already had sex. By graduation, that number increases to 74 percent. And a sexually active teen who does not use contraceptives has a 90 percent chance of becoming pregnant within a year.

A story in New York Magazine last month indicates many parents wouldn’t know if their kids were sexually active. The story outlined a study that showed the average teen lied to their parents about 12 of 36 topics.

Girls turn to friends and media for facts of life

In today’s culture, a lot of teens are getting information about sex, love and relationships from surprising sources.

Their friends, of course, are always willing to share what they know, even when the information is inaccurate, said Forrest Alton, executive Director of the S.C. Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.

Then there are the sexual images teens are bombarded with on TV and in movies, which can have a surprising influence on the ideas teens have about how real life relationships are handled.

In both cases, the effects can be detrimental, Alton said.

Kids need to be getting this information at home, he added.

“Too often we’re pointing the finger at schools and forgetting to ask the question, ‘Are parents holding up their end of the bargain?’ ” Alton said. “We live in a society where we’re absolutely fearful of talking about sex.”

He sees the irony of that considering the amount of play sex gets in the media.

And though public schools are required by law to teach sex education, parents always have the option not to let their children participate, so sometimes friends and the media seem like a child’s only avenue to get answers to difficult questions, when asking their parents seems too awkward.

Shanna M. Scott, education manager for Service Over Self, a youth volunteer and community support organization in Georgetown, works with parents, helping them learn how to talk with their children about sex.

She advises parents to start having those talks when kids are as young as 3, keeping the conversations age appropriate as they grow. They should start by teaching their kids the difference between boys and girls.

“You don’t have to go into everything, but you want your child to know there’s a difference between mommy and daddy. They’ll start to figure that out in kindergarten anyway and they’re going to have questions.”

When kids have questions about sex, Scott said, “the last thing you want them to do is ask a buddy.” If kids can’t get the information from home, their friends will impart their knowledge and it may not be accurate or the information parents would want kids to have.

The mother of 10-year-old twins, Scott practices what she preaches. As her daughters are entering their teenage years, her talks are centering around the changes their bodies are experiencing, she said.

“It’s not just talking to your kids about intercourse,” Scott explained.

Like Scott, E’Lane Rutherford, director of youth ministries at Holy Cross Faith Memorial Episcopal Church, also offers parents advice about talking to their kids about sex. She recommends being honest, letting kids ask questions and answering them as best they can, keeping the conversation open.

“If they have questions and they can’t ask their parents, who knows who they’re going to ask,” Rutherford said. “Getting wrong information is worse than getting no information.”

Parents should also talk to their kids about their own values and beliefs, Rutherford said.

“If it’s important to families that certain values and beliefs be upheld, they have to hear what the family’s values and beliefs are from the heads of the family,” she explained.

In her work with Service Over Self, Scott also teaches sex education to kids ages 10-19, working closely with health teachers in area schools, and going into churches and community groups that deal with teens.

By state law, schools are required to teach at least 12.5 hours of comprehensive health education, which includes sex education, to students in each elementary, middle and high school.

Since joining the staff at Service Over Self, Scott is doing her best to ensure those hours are maximized.

She wants to make sure teens know all they need to in order to make good, informed decisions, she said.

Scott always stresses abstinence first, but said she knows not all teens are going to abstain, so it’s important for them to have the information to make good choices, she said.

She compares it to crossing the street.

“I taught my daughters to look both ways, but that doesn’t give them carte blanche to cross the street whenever they want to. Just if you absolutely have to cross the street, please look both ways,” Scott said.

Being well informed about contraceptives and risky behavior is especially important, because of the high rate of teen pregnancies in the county, the state and the nation, Scott said.

In 2005, the most recent year she has statistics for, there were an estimated 123 teen pregnancies in the county. About a third of those were to girls between 15 and 17.

Stacey Archer, a certified nurse midwife in Georgetown, estimates that about half of the 147 babies she delivered last year were to teen moms. And in the past two years, she’s delivered two babies for some teens.

On a state level, a teen becomes pregnant every 58 minutes, said Alton. Those numbers have declined over the last 15 years.

Scott believes those numbers will continue to decline if teens are well informed.

“Kids have lots of questions to ask,” Scott said.

But a lot of parents don’t want anyone talking to their kids about sex, according to Scott. The programs she leads, however, are more about having the information needed to make smart choices. And they’re always age appropriate.

“People are like, ‘no, don’t talk about sex,’ ” Scott said. “But we also talk about self esteem and negotiation skills. Everybody talks about, ‘well, just say no,’ but how do you say no when there’s a cute guy with a letterman jacket over there and he’s like, ‘yes!’ You want that child to feel they don’t have to do something they don’t want to do. We teach them how to say no.”

The brand of sex education Scott teaches is considered a comprehensive approach and, according to Alton, it’s one of the most effective means of teaching to help kids make better choices.

But it’s not the brand that’s taught in all the state’s public schools. Though state law requires all public schools teach comprehensive sex education, there are different ways to go about it, he said.

“We have 85 school districts in South Carolina and probably 85 approaches,” Alton said. “Some are good, some are not so good and a whole lot fall in between.”

The state mandates what instructors can’t talk about. Homosexuality and abortion are off limits, for example, Scott said. But the requirements for what must be discussed are less specific.

Georgetown County schools are probably on the right track, however, with Scott’s approach, Alton said. Her lessons start with a strong message that abstinence is the “first and best approach,” Scott said, then move to accurate and age appropriate information about health considerations and contraceptives, as well as social and mental considerations, such as self esteem issues.

Scott stresses the importance of always providing accurate information.

“Encourage them to make good decisions by presenting them with the consequences of their actions,” Scott said. “Equip them with the power to make their own decisions and hope and pray they will make the right ones. It’s a mistake to try to do it by using the scare factor and telling the old wives’ tales, like if you touch yourself you’ll go blind.”

Scott also talks about values and encourages teens to think about the values that exist in their families.

Georgetown County School District has to be very careful about how it teaches sex education to students, said Celeste Pringle, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.

“We focus on abstinence and making wise choices, because when you start getting too much into other things, you open up a whole other bag of worms,” Pringle said.

The district can’t teach kids about values, for example, Pringle said, but can advise them to consider their family’s values, whatever those may be.

Groups that work with the district to teach sex education, such as Service Over Self, are monitored to ensure they follow state laws.

Georgetown County students first start receiving sex education in fifth grade, then again in middle school. In high school, it’s taught in health and P.E. classes, which students usually take as freshmen.

“We’re presenting the same message at each level,” Pringle said, “It’s just that the materials we use to deliver the message and the manner we use to deliver it are different at each level.”

Local school boards select the instructional materials that address reproductive health education, family life education, and pregnancy prevention education, Alton said. Each board appoints a 13-member committee to assist in the selection of instructional materials. The committee includes parents, clergy, health professionals, teachers, students and other community members.

Preventing teen pregnancy takes a community approach, Alton said.

“As we look around the state, we’re seeing there are programs that are successful, but there is no silver bullet solution,” he explained. “This is a very complex issue and it requires a very complex solution. It needs a concerted effort between schools, community- and faith-based organization, parents and other concerned adults. Everybody needs to be playing a role.

Sex education includes lessons in responsibility

Nature dictates that females bear the most obvious consequences of teen pregnancy, but Shanna M. Scott said she makes sure teen boys understand their own responsibilities if their partner becomes pregnant.

As education manager for Service Over Self, a youth volunteer and community support organization in Georgetown, she has led sessions on male responsibility at Tara Hall Home for Boys, as well as to community and church groups and in public schools.

The lessons she focuses on are the responsibilities of being a dad, how to use a condom, sexually transmitted diseases, self esteem issues, and standing up to peer pressure.

In addition to dealing with peer pressure from their friends, boys are also taught how to say no to girls, a group that has become more aggressive in recent years, Scott said.

“We’re finding it equally important to teach boys all the things we’ve been teaching girls for years,” Scott said. “In the 80s the focus was on the girls, because they’re the ones who get pregnant, but it takes two to make a baby and we need to equip boys with the same information we equip girls with.”

When Scott’s lessons first begin, boys usually don’t realize the extent of their responsibilities.

“Initially they think that, ‘OK, we’re guys and we won’t get pregnant, so we don’t have to worry about it,’” Scott said.

“But when you put in perspective as far as what the consequences are for them, they kind of realize what’s at stake when they decide to [participate] in sexual activities.”

She has boys participate in interactive games, looking at how much it costs to be a dad, and uses dolls to bring into focus other responsibilities in caring for a baby.

Scott has male students lay out their goals for the future, thinking about what job they want and where they want to live and then asks them to consider how having a baby and paying for day care and necessities for that child would affect those goals.”

She also talks about sexually transmitted diseases and what they do to the body.

A baby could be one of the best things that could happen to someone engaging in unprotected sex when weighed against some of the diseases out there, Scott said.

Weighing the options: Abortion, adoption, parenthood

Terri Triana knows better than most how many teens in Georgetown County become parents every year.

They come into her office on a routine basis, often when they first start to suspect there might be a baby on the way.

She helps as they are struggling to raise children, when really they’re still children themselves — when their biggest worries should be Friday night football games and getting a good SAT score.

When they first come into Triana’s office, they’re scared and almost always feel alone in the world. Triana’s job is to make sure they understand they are not alone. She talks to them about their options – from single parenting to adoption or abortion – and helps them find the one that’s right for them.

Most often the option they chose is parenting, Triana said. The photos of grinning young women and chubby babies that adorn the wall by her desk are testament to that fact. All are current or past clients, she said.

As a co-director of Birthright of Georgetown, a volunteer organization that offers alternatives to abortion and support for expectant mothers, Triana steps in when prevention programs fail and teens find themselves facing the consequences of bad decisions.

Birthright has 27 teen clients, all added since January 2007.

“Dealing with teens is a little different than dealing with our adult clients,” Triana said. “They have a whole set of needs that are unique to them that we have to address.”

The biggest goal is keeping pregnant teens in school, Triana said, because once a teen has dropped out, it’s much more difficult to get them to go back.

“Once they’re out, you have to pull them back in,” Triana explained. “We try to keep them in school to get an education, so they’re not in here asking us to pay the bills every month. We want to instill in them the value of an education and the freedom that allows them to have, so they’re not so dependent on every agency in Georgetown County, because the agencies are running out of money.”

Now in its sixth year locally, Birthright uses grants from the Bunnelle Foundation to assist teen parents in staying in school, whether that means providing clothes or financial help.

It was three years ago that the local leadership decided to focus their efforts on education. The client list was growing rapidly, and with limited funds tough decisions had to be made. Education can help teens support themselves.

“We decided if we could keep them in school and just give them some money to keep them in that last year or get them to that GED class, it would have a bigger effect in the long run,” Triana said.

Birthright offers emotional support, free pregnancy tests, maternity and baby clothes, diapers, and information and referrals to help clients with legal, medical, financial and housing needs.

Since teens aren’t eligible for government assistance such as food stamps, Birthright sometimes helps buy food. Since their assistance is combined with their entire household, teens don’t always get their needs met.

“We’ll have moms who come in on the 28th. Well, their food stamps won’t go into their account until the 5th and there’s no food in the house,” Triana said.

Birthright can provide a pregnant teen with a food card so she and the baby get the nourishment they need.

Gas cards can also be provided to help get to school or doctor’s appointments.

Obstacles such as that, or being unable to afford maternity clothes, can lead a teen to drop out of school.

“Whatever it is they need to get that education, we’ll try to figure out how to help them do it,” Triana said.

When a teen comes in, the first thing Birthright volunteers do is ascertain if she is really pregnant. If she is, the volunteer will encourage her to see a doctor and sign up for Medicaid at the Department of Social Services.

After that, Triana said, it’s time to ask if the teen has told her parents.

“We have to make sure she has a safe place to go,” Triana said. “We find out about her support system, if she needs to be on a waiting list to go to a home for pregnant women. If there’s a chance she’s going to get kicked out of the house, which some of them do, we need to talk that through and start thinking about places she can go — if there’s an aunt or a grandma or somebody who’s going to take her in.”

If the teen hasn’t told her parents, she can ask a volunteer to be with her when she does.

Throughout the pregnancy, volunteers stay in touch with the teen, and usually continue that contact at least through the first year of the child’s life.

Birthright also helps teens to get child support from the fathers. It’s something the young mothers are always encouraged to do, but not something they’re always excited about.

Triana’s exasperated expression when she talks about this subject is a sign of just how unwilling some of the girls are to ask the fathers for support.

“They’ll say, ‘well he’s doing the best he can,’ ” Triana said, arching an eyebrow. “Well, he might be, but he’s not doing it legally or on a regular basis. And once the father leaves the state, forget it. I’ll tell them, ‘I know things are really good now, but sometimes these guys can be a bit irresponsible and if you want what’s best for the baby, get support.’ ”

Many of the fathers Triana deals with aren’t involved with their children. Often they also have babies with other women, so the support they provide is limited. Some are in jail.

“I hear that more often than you would imagine,” Triana said.

If a pregnant teen isn’t sure she wants to keep the baby, that’s when Triana said other options are brought up.

“If she’s shaking in the beginning and talking about abortion, we’ll chat about it a little bit. We’ll ask her if she’s always embraced that idea, and if not, what’s made her change her mind about it. We’ll ask her if she knows anybody who’s had an abortion,” Triana said.

Volunteers talk about some of the effects an abortion can have on a woman physically, mentally and spiritually, and give referrals for more information.

Birthright operates on the belief that “it is the right of every pregnant woman to give birth and the right of every child to be born,” but whatever decisions clients make have to be their own and will be respected, Triana said.

“We just want to make sure they have everything they need to make the most informed decision possible,” she said. “We’ll do what we can to assist, but the girls have to make the decision on their own.”

According to the Charleston Women’s Medical Center, one of three state-licensed abortion centers in South Carolina, teens who are at least 17 don’t need parental consent for an abortion.

That’s a year younger than the age limit for body piercing without parental consent, a tattoo or buying cigarettes.

The clinic did not return phone calls, but offers a $25 discount for current students with ID, according to its Web site.

Patients receiving abortions, which are offered up to 13 weeks and six days, must be seen by a counselor, who will discuss the procedure, alternatives, birth control and follow-up care, the site states.

The side effects after an abortion vary, according to the American Pregnancy Association, a national health organization. The most common are minor ailments, such as abdominal pain and cramping, nausea, vomiting and vaginal bleeding. Those often occur for two to four weeks after the procedure, according to the association.

Serious complications occur in less than 1 percent of first trimester abortions and approximately one of 50 late-term abortions, the association tells women, but warns them to be aware of those risks anyway.

Such risks can include heavy or persistent bleeding, infection or sepsis, damage to the cervix, scarring of the uterine lining, perforation of the uterus, damage to other organs, and sometimes death.

Some of those risks are also present with childbirth, the association points out.

For Birthright clients who choose abortion, volunteers offer referrals for counseling and healing. One such entity is Rachel’s Vineyard, an outreach that offers weekend retreats for women who have had abortions.

But before any decision is made, Birthright presents another option: adoption. So far, that’s only been used twice in six years.

One of the agencies Birthright refers teens to for adoptions is Bethany Christian Services, a national organization with four offices in South Carolina, including one in Myrtle Beach.

Those offices place 30 to 40 children with new families every year, said Joann King, Bethany’s state director.

“A lot of the sense people have about adoption is what they got from television and that’s often incorrect,” King said. “Adoptions have changed. A lot of them have openness between the adoptive parents and the birth parents.”

Both sets of parents can choose the extent of the relationship between the child and the birth mother. If she wants, the birth mother can be involved with selecting the adoptive parents and can have contact with the child after the adoption.

Open adoptions are positive for everyone involved King said.

“For the birth mother, it gives a sense of peace in that she’s met the adoptive family and she knows the baby’s going to be taken care of. They might send her regular pictures and reports. That really helps her deal with the feelings of grief and loss.”

For the adoptive parents and the child, a relationship with the birth mother means knowledge, among other things. Access is available to the child’s family medical history, and the child has a better idea about his roots and why his birth mother chose adoption.

In South Carolina, there is no age requirement for a woman to give her child up for adoption, and minors don’t need parental approval, but King said teen clients are always encouraged to involve their parents.

The first step in the process of putting a child up for adoption is, again, looking at all the options, King said. Like Triana, she wants to make sure pregnant women have as much information as possible.

Adoption is a good alternative for pregnant teens, allowing them to stay in school and continue with their goals, King said.

“There are a lot of benefits. Statistics show that a lot of girls who become teen moms tend not to finish school and to not do a lot of the things teens want to do, because they have the responsibility of a child,” King said. “Choosing adoption, they can continue their education and focus on a career, marry later in life, build relationships and start families when they’re more ready. They can focus on the goals a teenager normally has.”

Most of the women King sees are 18 or older.

“It’s usually the ones who have a better sense of a child’s needs,” she said.

Bethany’s state offices receives at least one call a day from parents interested in adopting a child, King said.