DATE: Friday, April 4, 1997                 TAG: 9704040650

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH SIMPSON, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   84 lines

GRASS-ROOTS GROUPS UNITE TO STAMP OUT TEEN PREGNANCY PLANNED PARENTHOOD WILL PLAY A LESSER ROLE TO ERASE THE STATE'S FEAR OF BIAS.

Virginia officials don't know how to stop unwed mothers from bearing babies, so they're asking Hampton Roads people to attack this knotty problem close to home.

As part of the rollout of welfare reform in urban areas, state policymakers in a forum Monday will challenge local leaders, grass-roots groups and citizens to figure out how to cut the region's out-of-wedlock birth rate. The forum will be at Chrysler Hall in downtown Norfolk.

Research suggests many ties between unwed births and quality of life for mother and child and their community. Lower that birth rate and the school drop-out rates, and Medicaid and welfare expenses should decline as well.

Locales that devise the best solutions have a chance at a share of $20 million in federal money available through national welfare reform efforts. Those grants will go to five states that reduce out-of-wedlock birth rates the most without a corresponding increase in abortion rates.

Immediately after Monday's forum, WPEN-TV will tape a town hall meeting about teen pregnancy.

While an array of community leaders and agencies have been invited to both events, one organization with a focus on preventing unwanted pregnancies - Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Virginia - was forced to reduce its role in the TV program.

Planned Parenthood had signed on as a sponsor of ``Solutions: Kids Having Kids,'' which will air at 7:30 p.m., April 13 on WPEN, a Hampton-based independent broadcast station.

Planned Parenthood had paid $500 for commercials and promotional messages. Also, executive director Lisa Persikoff said she was asked to participate on a panel of experts.

However, when Scott C. Oostdyk, the state's deputy secretary of health and human resources, learned that Planned Parenthood was a sponsor, he told WPEN that the out-of-wedlock forum and the town hall meeting would either have to be two separate events, or Planned Parenthood needed to be eliminated from the list of sponsors.

``We are trying to keep from getting in the middle of an ideological debate,'' Oostdyk said, telegraphing how difficult working together on problems like pregnancy prevention can be. ``We do not want to be ideologically aligned with a group that has one set of solutions because we might alienate a group with a different set of solutions.

``We're trying to play this down the middle.''

Planned Parenthood provides birth control information, counseling on pregnancy issues and also lobbies for abortion rights.

WPEN asked Planned Parenthood to withdraw its sponsorship and also offered the organization an alternative on the same night of programming.

Persikoff, however, said the organization refused the package because ``Planned Parenthood will not be bought.''

She said she was frustrated that an organization with such a clear focus on pregnancy prevention would be asked to curb its involvement.

``While we have political views on some issues that can be viewed as controversial, I don't believe our stance on teen-age pregnancy is controversial. We believe in the prevention of unwanted pregnancies, that teen-agers should abstain if possible, and that teen-agers who do not abstain need to be taught about birth control. The majority of Americans believe in that as well.''

Other sponsors of the TV town meeting are Riverside Regional Medical Center, the Mays & Valentine law firm and The Pines Residential Treatment Center. Oostdyk said he told WPEN that the state will cover whatever gap in funding was caused by the loss of Planned Parenthood.

Jennifer Sanford, who is coordinating the WPEN show, said the format won't include an experts' panel, but instead comments from the audience moderated by Virginia Beach council member Louisa Strayhorn.

She said Planned Parenthood is invited to be a part of that discussion, even though the organization has been barred from being a sponsor.

``This is designed to be a non-partisan, non-political group of people trying to come up with solutions,'' Sanford said. ``We anticipate a lot of different viewpoints.'' MEMO: The state's regional forum on reducing out-of-wedlock births

will be held at Chrysler Hall in Norfolk on Monday, from 4 to 5 p.m. The

forum will be followed by a one-hour town hall meeting on teen pregnancy

prevention being organized and taped for future broadcast by WPEN-TV.

Both events are open to the public. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

High Rates of Births outside of marriage

For complete copy, see microfilm KEYWORDS: TEENAGE PREGNANCY

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