According to recent data, New Mexico has the 2nd highest teen pregnancy rate in the country; it follows that New Mexico has high numbers of parents who had their first children as teenagers. As a young mama recently shared, “we aren’t just teens having babies, we are young parents who are raising families”. The negative practice of shaming and blaming young parents exists everywhere and has untold impacts on young families.

A research brief, “The Public Costs of Teen Childbearing” reports that mothers having their first child at age 17 or younger cost the United States $8.63 billion annually. As part of this calculation researchers measured, “the reduced earning capacity of teen mothers and their partners due to lower levels of educational attainment--all of which translate into lost tax revenue.” This data is often used to paint young parents as a drain on our economy, but we need to refocus this discourse and take action to address the overwhelming educational push-out young parents are facing. Last year, Young Women United (YWU) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico conducted focus groups with young moms to learn about their experiences in accessing education as pregnant and parenting teens. Young parents in New Mexico shared stories about how fellow students, teachers, and administrators made them feel unwelcome. One student from Las Cruces told us, “Teachers were against it and told [me]it would lower [my] grades.” In Albuquerque, students told us about an educator yelling at pregnant moms, promising that their kids would be screwed up because of their mistake. Teen parents from different parts of New Mexico said that many of their teachers refused to allow them to make up assignments they missed due to childbirth.  All over the state we learned about district policies and procedures that erect barriers to young parents completing their education. Working with the ACLU of New Mexico taught us about the protections against educational discrimination that Title IX is supposed to bring to pregnant and parenting teens.

Carrying momentum from these focus groups, YWU organized with young parent leaders to collectively author Senate Memorial 25 establishing August 25th as the New Mexico Day in Recognition of Young Parents. From committee hearings to conversations with legislators, these leaders let their message be known: young parents deserve respect, trust, and recognition.  Over 50 young parents and many allies from all over New Mexico came together for “Show Some Love,” a day of action during the legislative session at the Roundhouse which created a space for young parents to speak out and connect with legislators about issues that matter, like educational discrimination in our school systems.  SM 25 passed through the NM legislative body with bipartisan support. Too much is at stake when we shame and stigmatize young parents. Blaming social ills on young parents pushes them away from the support and resources that all families need to be healthy. Meaningful change in the lives of all young people is rooted in equal access to educational opportunities, living wage jobs, affordable health care, and safe housing.  To ensure that young parents and their children are given the opportunity to be strong families we must address discriminatory practices and policies impacting their lives. This August we are incredibly proud to announce three New Mexico celebrations in recognition of young parents.  While these events are affirmations of equality that all families deserve, we have work ahead. Together with the ACLU of New Mexico, YWU is centering the voices of young parents on a powerful task force set to assess and eliminate educational barriers faced by pregnant and parenting students. With young parents committed to creating change, we expect to see important wins for young families as we come out of New Mexico’s upcoming legislative session. Together we can and must build communities where all families can thrive.
 
Denicia Cadena, Interim Director, Young Women United
Micaela Cadena, Campaign Coordinator, Young Women United

 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 23, 2012
 
CONTACT: Micah McCoy, (505) 266-5915 x1003 or [email protected]
 
ALBUQUERQUE, NM—On Saturday, August 25, Young Women United (YWU) will host the first ever “Day of Recognition for Young Parents” in New Mexico at 3 PM at Kit Carson Park. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico will be partnering with YWU at the event to provide pregnant and parenting teens with information about their educational rights.  In the 2012 New Mexico State Legislative Session, the legislature passed a memorial with bipartisan support establishing August 25 as the “New Mexico Day in Recognition of Young Parents.”
 
“All families deserve respect, trust and recognition,” said Micaela Cadena, Campaign Coordinator, Young Women United. “But too often young parents are cast in a negative light and pushed to the margins of society. The legislature created this day of recognition to affirm the value of young families and acknowledge all the ways they contribute to our communities.”
 
On this inaugural day of recognition, young parents from the Albuquerque area and beyond will join together at Kit Carson Park to strengthen bonds of support within their community and discuss challenges they face.
 
“We want to use this day of recognition to call attention to all the ways we can support young parents in our state,” said ACLU of New Mexico Staff Attorney Alexandra Freedman Smith. “Young parents still face a variety of barriers to completing their education. Some schools attempt to force pregnant and parenting students out, or do not provide the flexibility young parents need to balance their education and parenting responsibilities.”
 
The ACLU of New Mexico, Strong Families NM, Pegasus Legal Services for Children, the Southwest Women’s Law Center, New Futures, New Mexico GRADS, and the UNM Teen Parent Mentoring Program, CNM Outreach, Native American Voters Alliance, Religious Coalition Reproductive Choice, HOPE NM, MyCommunityNM , Sundance, UNM Nurse Family Partnership, St. Joseph Home Visiting Program, NM Breastfeeding Task Force and UNM Men of Color Alliance will have tables at the event to provide information on community resources for young parents, opportunities for growth and rights education.
 
 
WHAT: Day of Recognition for Young Families
 
WHEN: Saturday, August 25, 3PM – 6PM
 
WHERE: Kit Carson Park, Albuquerque, NM
 

 

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NEW YORK –American Civil Liberties Union affiliates in 38 states, including New Mexico, sent requests today to local police departments and state agencies that demand information on how they use automatic license plate readers (ALPR) to track and record Americans’ movements. The DEA has already confirmed that these devices are currently deployed in New Mexico.

In addition, the ACLU and the ACLU of Massachusetts filed federal Freedom of Information Act requests with the departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Transportation to learn how the federal government funds ALPR expansion nationwide and uses the technology itself.
ALPRs are cameras mounted on patrol cars or on stationary objects along roads – such as telephone poles or the underside of bridges – that snap a photograph of every license plate that enters their fields of view. Typically, each photo is time, date, and GPS-stamped, stored, and sent to a database, which provides an alert to a patrol officer whenever a match or “hit” appears.

“Automatic license plate readers make it possible for the police to track our location whenever we drive our cars and to store that information forever,” said Catherine Crump, staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy & Technology Project. “The American people have a right to know whether our police departments are using these tools in a limited and responsible manner, or whether they are keeping records of our movements for months or years for no good reason.”

ALPRs are spreading rapidly around the country, but the public has little information about how they are used to track motorists’ movements, including how long data collected by ALPRs is stored, and whether local police departments pool this information in state, regional or national databases. If ALPRs are being used as a tool for mass routine location tracking and surveillance and to collect and store information not just on people suspected of crimes, but on every single motorist, the American people should know that so that they can voice their concerns.

ALPRs have already proven controversial. Just last month the Drug Enforcement Administration withdrew its request to install ALPRs along certain portions of Interstate 15 in Utah after they were met with resistance by local lawmakers.

“Tracking and recording people’s movements raises serious privacy concerns, because where we go can reveal a great deal about us, including visits to doctor’s offices, political meetings, and friends.” said Kade Crockford, Director of the Technology for Liberty Project of the ACLU of Massachusetts. “We need legal protections to limit the collection, retention and sharing of our travel information, and we need these rules right away.”

More information about the requests is available at: aclu.org/plates
 

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