23+October+2008+Women+in+the+World

This morning we started at the [|Gleacher Center] of the University of Chicago with a policy forum sponsored by [|Chapin Hall] and [|Thursday's Child]. It was focused on the "real cost of teen pregnancy" and when they say real cost, they are really talking about real money. Not opportunities lost or squandered, but how much money does it cost to deal with teen pregnancy.

Speakers Sarah S. Brown - CEO of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy [|TheNationalCampaign.org] Robert Goerge - Chapin Hall research fellow - developed the Integrated Database on Children's Services in Illinois Saul D. Hoffman - editor of the book [|Kids Having Kids]: Economics Costs and Social Consequences of Teen Pregnancy Pat W. Mosena - president of [|Options for Youth] and directs two programs: [|Peer Advocates for Health] and [|Illinois Subsequent Pregnancy Program].

Main talking points
 * Stats
 * What are the outcomes for teen mothers and their children?

Questions for the panel
 * High profile pregnancies
 * What about the fathers
 * What is the ROI

Girls' take away from the discussion
 * the girls were surprised at the lack of discussion about the emotional outcomes of teen pregnancy; as this was a policy debate, the focus tended to be on the ways to delay second pregnancies OR to delay a first birth until the age of 20.
 * the Q/A session at the end of the panel talk was more interesting to the girls, who felt that the questions got at the issues of teen fathers and their role; as well, panelists talked about school and community based sex education needs.

The Chicago Women's Health Center at Links Hall
 * Sarah Culbertson gave us a tour of this center, which is the longest running center for women's health in the U.S.. CWHC provides sliding scale health care, counseling, and educational services to women in the city. The space is filled with dark wood paneling, roaming plants and dedicated volunteers and health care professionals who are there to give great care to women; every visit is one hour long, and women are encouraged to educate themselves about "their bodies, their selves," to borrow a phrase from the Boston Women's Health Collective tome...
 * The center is looking to move to a larger space and to do more outreach to teens.

Girls' take away from the day
 * a fundraiser for the center is a possibility; we talked briefly about difference between talking about women's health issues (the panel) and actually working to provide health care services to women; we talked briefly about the link between women's health and the portrayal of women in the media, and we described our initial thoughts about a morning ex

Here are photos from the day.

My thoughts - it's all about money and those that can be served with the money available.

My thoughts: we need to help the girls make the connections that help them make sense of the issues...and we need to get started on a project where they are doing more than listening; it's time for them to synthesize what we've done thus far into a product of some sort.