State and local officials gathered in Brookhaven Tuesday to discuss Mississippi’s high teen pregnancy rates and possible avenues to a solution.

     Speakers, including Gov. Phil Bryant and Brookhaven’s District 39 Sen. Sally Doty, emphasized that teen pregnancy is a problem for local communities and those local communities must be involved in the solution.

     In an interview Tuesday, Bryant said he sees forums like the one in Brookhaven as helping to start a conversation and partnerships at the grassroots level.

     “The road to success is in having an open, frank discussion and saying we need to stop this,” Bryant said.

     To those gathered at the forum, Bryant highlighted the value of cooperation.

     “It will take all of us working together to get this done,” Bryant said.

     Speaking again of the importance of local efforts, Bryant said state lawmakers and officials cannot solve the problem without help.

     “The Legislature can’t do it all,” said Bryant.

     That doesn’t mean lawmakers have no role in a solution, though, the governor said.

     “We can put some money into it, because I think it’s a great investment,” Bryant said.

     Bryant did say he’d be pushing for legislation mandating prosecution of adult males who impregnate teenage girls.

     He said he’d be working with Attorney General Jim Hood to draft a bill to this effect. The governor said this sort of action is needed to ensure there are consequences for some of the men involved in creating the state’s teen pregnancy problem.

     Bryant addressed voices that call for increased education about and access to contraception. He said he feels most teenagers know how to use contraception and how to get it.

     “The problem is teenagers do not care enough about using (it),” Bryant said.

     Bryant pointed out that during his own teenage years, approximately 40 years ago, there was much less access to contraception but also much lower teen birth rates.

     This was the third forum on teen pregnancy held in the state this year. There have been previous forums in Jackson and Lexington.

     Doty chairs the state and local action committee for the governor’s task force on teen pregnancy and briefly discussed the need for more programs in the Lincoln County area addressing teen pregnancy.

     Dr. Leigh Cher Gray with King’s Daughters Medical Center spoke at the forum and highlighted a particular issue in Lincoln County. She said about 60 babies were born to teen mothers in the area in and around Lincoln County last year, and 48 of those were to 18- and 19-year-olds.

     Whereas other parts of the state struggle with teen births at even younger ages, Gray said this age group seems to be a particular problem for this area. Gray said there needs to more options for students after they graduate from high school.

     Lincoln County ranked 47th in teen pregnancy rates out of the state’s 82 counties from 2005 to 2009, according to data compiled by the nonprofit Mississippi First.

     Lincoln County’s teen pregnancy rates are slightly ahead of the state average and almost twice the national average.

     Dr. Nycole Campbell-Lewis, a member of the governor’s task force on teen pregnancy, ended the forum by highlighting once again the theme of local action.

     “The answer lies in this room. You are the community that makes up Brookhaven, not the government,” Campbell-Lewis said. “The governor has laid the vision out, now it time for the people to carry it forward.”