Could $1 a Day Keep St. Louis Teens From Becoming Pregnant?

By Chad Garrison Thu., Jun. 25 2009 at 2:35 PM

They're doing it in North Carolina. In a program called College Bound Sisters, teenagers (12-18) in Greensboro earn $7 a week to stay in school and not become pregnant. The money is placed into a fund payable to the girl when she enrolls in college.

The program is not without its skeptics.

"It makes me a bit uneasy," Bill Albert, chief program officer at the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, tells Fox News. "I do have mixed feelings. It's hard to pay people to do something that we think they should be doing regardless. It would be like if you didn't want young people to experiment with marijuana, you'd pay them not to do it."

Still, one wonders if it would work in St. Louis where the number of pregnant teenagers have declined in recent years but still lead the state in the number of pregnancies. (Click on the chart below for a larger image.)

Source: Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services

According to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, St. Louis teens under the age of 18 had a 52 percent rate of pregnancy in the three-year period from 2005 to 2007.