April 26, 2006

Michigan Surgeon General Dr. Kimberlydawn Wisdom was elected to the Board of Directors of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy today in Washington DC. Wisdom will also take over as chairperson for the Campaign’s State and Local Action Task Force.

“I’m honored to have been elected to serve in this capacity and represent our state in a national forum,” Wisdom said. “This is a great opportunity to highlight the innovative efforts that the Governor has launched as part of her commitment to reducing unintended pregnancy and also determine ways to better address teen pregnancies at state and local levels.”

In 2005, Governor Jennifer M. Granholm announced her Blueprint for Preventing Unintended Pregnancies – a three-point strategy designed to engage middle school parents in sex education efforts, increase access to family planning services, and significantly reduce the number of unintended pregnancies in Michigan. Wisdom has helped lead this initiative.

“We invited Dr. Wisdom to join the Campaign’s Board of Directors because we believe that we can learn much from her expertise as an important state leaders working on teen pregnancy and as a physician with a commitment to public health,” said Isabel V. Sawhill, Ph.D., Campaign President.

Michigan has enjoyed a steady decline in teen pregnancy and birth rates across all subsets of the teen population for more than a decade. While these declines indicate a significant level of success in the state’s efforts to reduce teen pregnancy, Michigan continues to have an alarming number of youth who experience the serious health, emotional and financial consequences of pregnancy, childbirth, and engagement in sexual activity and other risky behaviors.

2005 Michigan Youth Risk Behavior Survey data indicates that forty-two percent of Michigan’s high school aged youth (grades 9-12) have experienced sexual intercourse (a decrease from 44% reported on the 2003 YRBS). Seventy percent of all teen pregnancies are unintended.

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, founded in February 1996, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan initiative supported almost entirely by private donations. Its mission is to improve the well-being of children, youth, and families by reducing teen pregnancy. 

The goal of the National Campaign is to reduce the teen pregnancy rate by one-third between 2006 and 2015. The work of the National Campaign is led by a dedicated Board of Directors, four Task Forces, two Congressional Advisory Panels, and a Youth Leadership Team. The State and Local Action Task Force is a small group of influential leaders who provide guidance and advice to the campaign on its work with states and communities.