The birth rate among California teenagers has reduced by more than half since 1992, when the Golden State had the uncomfortable distinction of having the highest rate of teen pregnancies in the country. In the most recent data released by California Department of Health Services, the 2007 teen birth rate in the state was 37.1 per 1,000 women aged 15-19.

San Diego County checked in at 34.8. That's better than the overall state figure of 37.1, though not nearly as good as the Bay Area's Marin County, which has the lowest in the state at 13.2 percent. However, it's not as staggering as some other places such as Imperial County (52.3), Kern (63.8) or Madera (65.3). Seven other counties--all rural--reported low number events, fewer than 20 cases, so they didn't figure into the rankings.

"We're still working hard to have access to contraceptives and education (about) sexuality,'' said Jennifer Coburn of Planned Parenthood's San Diego and Riverside County branch. "It's always encouraging to see a decline in the teen birth rate, but there's a lot of work to be done in San Diego.''

On that note, the non-profit San Diego Youth Services Agency, formed in 1970, recently received a five-year, $6-million federal grant to fund new programs specifically targeting the reduction of teenage pregnancies and sexually-transmitted diseases. There are several communities in San Diego that have higher teen birthrates than the state average, and SDYSA will be eyeing those areas closely. They include Barrio Logan and parts of Vista and Oceanside.

"It's been going down over the years, but what you have seen is in certain populations, the teenage pregnancy rate would be higher,'' said Walter Philips, Executive Director of SDYSA. "But a lot of the efforts toward reducing teenage pregnancies have been effective.''

However, as Coburn said, there is a long way to go in battling the problem, and this is especially true in the county's Latino communities.

"With teenage pregnancies in San Diego, what we've seen is while the trend is leveling off among whites and African-Americans, they continue to increase for young Latinas,'' said Marcela Nunez, program director of Cal State University-San Marcos' National Latino Research Center. "That part hasn't improved in 10 years.''

The NLRC reports, with statistics from Community Health Improvement Partners, reports that between 2000 and 2002, Latinas accounted for 76 percent of all teen births between the ages of 15 and 17. The 2002 birthrate for Latinas in that age range was a sobering 42.4 percent per thousand. Then again, one study showed that from 1991-98, Latina teen births (among those 15 to 19) were down 29 percent statewide, the largest decline of any ethnic group in California during that period.

Explaining the high rate of teen Latina pregnancies is a touchy topic that could be debated every single day for a year. Nunez thinks the state's current fiscal mess has contributed, since budget cuts have curbed programs designed to bring information and education to those who need it the most, especially in poorer neighborhoods.

"Funding limitations make it difficult to create programs that are going to reach people who are at risk,'' Nunez said. "Those are Latinas.

"We have to make that connection that teen pregnancy, first and foremost, impacts your ability and feasibility of your people to pursue an education. When this happens, it not only affects the teen, but (their) children and their entire community.

"It's an ongoing debate in local school districts what to teach and what to make accessible.''

One program that went over like the proverbial lead balloon was Education Now and Babies Later, or ENABL. The concept was to push abstinence, but "Just Say No" didn't work with drugs and it definitely didn't work with sex. ENABL was started in 1992, the same year California led everyone in teen pregnancies. Eventually, it was mercifully dropped.

"(Preaching) abstinence doesn't work from an educational perspective," Nunez said. "That has been proven in many other instances. So much funding was tied to delivering a message we know doesn't work."

Or, as Planned Parenthood of San Diego and Riverside Counties' public affairs director Amy Denhart wrote in a newspaper article last year, "Nearly all experts agree that abstinence-only programs ultimately have the opposite effect they intended ..."

Another enemy in the fight against teen pregnancies: Sexually-themed material and programming on television, Internet and elsewhere are ramped up to levels never seen before, and this trend is certainly not slowing down any time soon.

Perhaps most alarming to observers is the surfacing of several TV programs, basically sending a message that having a baby at 16 is one of the coolest things a girl can do.

"It's a disservice to young people,'' said Coburn. "The best thing for young people to do would be to spend a week with a mom. That would give them a full picture of what it's like to be a mother, with no editor. That would give them a full picture of what motherhood is like.

"It's tough and challenging at any age. With every child, it's a great deal of responsibility that can't be shown in a half-hour TV show.''

Nunez agreed.

"(Those shows) mystify it and at the same time simplify it," Nunez said of teen pregnancies. "It's actually an issue that some of these teen mom shows are popular. Those shows misrepresent issues--they could be served with positive messages, instead they make it too simple without enough solutions. And they don't represent the populations most affected by it."

Philips chimed in, "One of the dangers of shows like that is they glamorize being pregnant as a teen. That they're on TV gives them attention and gives glamour to it. It expresses sexuality without proper information."

Curbing teenage pregnancies is one of the most important and daunting challenges in San Diego, as well as everywhere else. It's a never-ending effort, but Nunez sees some hope.

"I'm optimistic," she said. "We've seen success when adequate information is provided, coupled with intervention and support system. Not only do you really have to do your best to reshape the message for choices (to teens) and have access (to making positive) choices.

"When you start looking long term, it's an investment to provide access and information that's accurate and effective."