According to the Journal:

Speaking at the American Public Health Association‘s annual conference, Frieden said, “Teenage pregnancy really is the intergenerational transmission of poverty.” He added that lowering teenage pregnancy rates is “[o]ne of the things we can do that has the biggest impact in societal inequality.”

Other countries have done a better job at reducing teen pregnancy rates, he noted, adding that there are proven strategies for preventing teen pregnancy.

The federal government has been actively funding sex education for young people in Florida, but state policy-makers have turned away millions of dollars that would have gone to sex education in struggling counties.

While the statewide teen pregnancy rate has dropped, a number of counties in Florida are facing a persistent problem with their teen pregnancy rates. Over 60 percent of the counties in Florida with the highest birth rate among teens who are between the ages of 15 and 19 did not manage to decrease their rates in 2009.

Florida was sixth in the nation for teen birth rates in 2009. The Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro area reported the second highest income inequality in the country, according to the most recent U.S. Census.

The project “considered a national model is helping women avoid medically unnecessary C-sections and contributing to healthier outcomes for their babies, project organizers report,” according to the Free Press.

The rise of medically unnecessary C-sections has been little discussed problem in the U.S. even as rates continue to climb.

As of last year, the state of Florida had the highest Caesarean rate in the country. Miami has the highest number of hospitals that are delivering more babies via C-section than natural deliveries.

According to a recent HealthGrades Obstetrics and Gynecology in American Hospitals report, Florida’s C-section rate was 38.6 percent in 2010 — the highest in the nation. The lowest rate belonged to Utah, which had a 22.4 percent C-section rate. The national C-section rate between 2002 and 2009 rose from 27 percent of all single births to 34 percent. HealthGrades says this “an all time high.” However, unlike Michigan, there have been no recent expansive statewide efforts among hospitals to reduce the number of C-sections.

According to the Free Press:

The Michigan Health and Hospital Association Keystone obstetrics project has triggered major changes at the 65 Michigan hospitals as they move to eliminate many Caesarean births and use of labor-induction drugs before the 39th week of pregnancy.

Under the project, elective or scheduled C-section births are discouraged unless the mother has a chronic disease or is carrying more than one baby, or her baby is small and developing slower.

At Oakwood Hospital and Medical Center in Dearborn, where the idea for the project began, doctors have seen improvements in babies’ birth scores and fewer in the neonatal care unit.

Hospitals all over the state have reportedly made a commitment to the project. “About 65 Michigan hospitals — nearly every major birthing center in the state — are active in the C-section reduction campaign,” the Free Press reports.

So far, researchers say the results of the project are positive:

The doctors and researchers say preliminary data are promising, showing a sizable reduction in elective C-sections and use of labor induction drugs.

Even more encouraging are reports of better Apgar scores — a measurement of a baby’s health taken a few minutes after birth — and fewer instances of infants requiring special care at the hospitals.

The results are preliminary, and a larger study awaits publication in December in a national journal about patient quality initiatives. Early data show elective C-sections before 39 weeks of pregnancy fell to 6% from 24% of all births, and use of labor-induction drugs dropped to 7% from 20% of all births, according to data collected from March 2010 to March 2011.

The March of Dimes 2011 Mission Report for Florida says that in an average week in Florida “1,710 babies are born by cesarean section.” The group has started its own project addressing the C-section problem in Florida. According to the group’s website, the Florida Perinatal Quality Collaborative began “a pilot program designed to eliminate c-sections and inductions in Florida that are scheduled for non-medical reasons before 39 weeks of pregnancy.”

“Beginning on January 3rd, 2011, six hospitals in Florida have implemented policies to prevent non-medically indicated deliveries before 39 completed weeks of pregnancy (a normal pregnancy lasts 40 weeks),” the website says.

There are currently six hospitals in Miami alone with a C-section rate of over 50 percent, according to data from the Agency for Health Care Administration.

Manuel Fermin, the CEO of the Healthy Start Coalition of Miami-Dade, has told The Florida Independent that hospitals in Miami reporting these types of numbers are not looking out for women.

“Here in Miami, this has become a business,” Fermin says.”It is so out of whack it’s scary. You don’t find this anywhere else in the U.S.”

The group said in an email to supporters:

Last session, Gov. Rick Scott and government bureaucrats launched an all-out assault on Florida women and families by filing 18 dangerous and invasive anti-choice bills. Now, it seems like it’s more of the same for the 2012 session.

Instead of strengthening the economy or creating jobs, they are playing politics with women’s health by introducing legislation that allows government bureaucrats to interfere with decisions that should be made by a woman in conjunction with her doctor, her family and her faith. We won’t stand for these games. Enough is enough.

Planned Parenthood is joining Awake the State as the group holds rallies all over the state tomorrow. The annoucement of the rallies says “it’s time to mobilize Florida’s middle class: to fight Rick Scott’s extremist anti-middle class agenda, stop his puppets in the Legislature, and return middle class values and priorities to our government in 2012.”

Awake describes itself as a movement created in response to Scott’s policies, involving “Floridians from every walk of life including educators, healthcare workers, police and firefighters, advocates for consumers, middle class families and more.” It is also a coalition of activist groups in Florida, such as Progress Florida, Florida Watch Action and America Votes. The group recently held a summit to help grow the movement and prepare activists for the upcoming legislative session.

The Awake rally in Orlando has announced it will join Occupy Orlando in its protest.

Awake the State has rallies planned for Miami, Palm Coast, Melbourne, Cape Coral, Daytona Beach, Sarasota, West Palm Beach, Tallahassee, Gulf Breeze, Ocala, Saint Petersburg, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Sumter County and Orlando.

The new report from the U.S. Census Bureau, which was released on Wednesday, analyzed which cities had the biggest gaps between the rich and the poor.

Florida as a whole ranks “as the fifth-worst state in the nation on a measure of income inequality,” the Gini Index, according to the Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy. U.S. income inequality has also been rising.

Mother Jones reported earlier this month that “equality” in income remains one of the most important “economic drivers.”. The report Jones cited explained that “making an economy’s income distribution 10 percent more equitable prolongs its typical growth spell by 50 percent.”

Poverty and unemployment have been persistent problems in Florida, including in the Miami-Dade and Broward area. Many of Florida’s largest cities are struggling to rebound from the recession. Miami, in particular, was among the 20 weakest-performing cities in the country in the struggle to recover from the recession.

As Occupy Miami supporters protest in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, income inequality remains one of the movement’s most talked about issues.

Occupy Miami held a rally last Saturday that drew more than 1,000 protesters. The event was held in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York and similar movements around the world. Corporate greed and income inequality have been a big focus of the protests.

The protests now enter Day Six, and Pedro Santana tells The Florida Independent that “hundreds have passed by” since last Saturday. Almost 100 have stayed and occupied government center, he says.

About 30-40 tents have been sprawled on a grassy area in front of government center since the rally last week.

Until yesterday, South Florida faced terrible weather, with heavy rainfall throughout almost all of the group’s occupation. However, the group toughed it out and is still there — and can stay there for quite some time. The group has an indefinite permit to occupy the area, an observer of the protest said.

Santana also says the group has received community support. Someone has even volunteered portable toilets for the group.

This week, union members in the area held a press conference in front of the occupation and announced their support of the protest.

Here are pictures of Day 6 of the occupation in government center:

In an interview on Fox 13 this week, Gov. Rick Scott said that Occupy Wall Street protesters are “frustrated with where the world is going” and compared them to his supporters, who “believe government kills jobs.”

While there is not one agreed-upon message among protesters rallying in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, politicians and pundits have tried to pin down the group’s beliefs. Conservative pundits and politicians have referred to the movement as a “communist plot” or “class warfare.”

In his interview on FOX 13, when asked about the protests, Scott said he thinks “people are frustrated with where the world is going.”

“In my race,” he said, “the biggest frustration people had is jobs — and they are frustrated because they believe government kills jobs, whether it’s taxes or regulation or permitting.”

He also said he won his race because he had “a plan for jobs.” His plan, however, has been the center of attention because he recently walked back from a central metric for his plan.

“I think we are going to solve these issues (and I am glad people come out and tell us what they think) by creating an environment where people can get jobs,” Scott told Fox.

According to the Independent’s Virginia Chamlee, protesters at Jacksonville’s Occupy Wall Street-inspired rally singled out Scott as a protest target:

Though the protesters were initially more concerned with the growing divide between the country’s most wealthy 1 percent and the rest of Americans, the movement has begun directing anger at current Florida policy-makers — none of whom are bearing the brunt quite like Gov. Rick Scott.

One small group of protesters waited outside the Jacksonville Omni Hotel, where Scott was acting as guest speaker of a gala. Holding signs that read “We are the 99 percent” and “Pink Slip Rick,” the handful of protesters proclaimed their dissatisfaction with Scott, whom one woman said was more concerned with “looking out for corporate interests” than with representing average Floridians.

Occupy Wall Street rallies took place in several cities in Florida this past weekend, including Miami, Orlando, Sarasota, Tallahassee and Fort Lauderdale.

Watch Scott’s appearance:

Scott: I want Florida to be science, tech hub: MyFoxTAMPABAY.com

Scott: I want Florida to be science, tech hub: MyFoxTAMPABAY.com

The New York-based movement aimed at protesting corporate greed became a global movement over the weekend. Hundreds of cities around the world joined in denouncing the global economy and its current inequalities. Miami was among the cities joining in protesting, as well as other cities in Florida.

The Washington Post reports: “Rallies were held in more than 900 cities in Europe, Africa and Asia, as well as in the United States, with some of the largest occurring in Europe. The demonstration in Rome turned violent, and more than 70 people were arrested in Manhattan on Saturday night, but crowds elsewhere were largely peaceful.”

There are reports that more than 1,000 people showed up this weekend to protest in Miami.

Early in the afternoon, hundreds of Occupy Miami supporters gathered at the Torch of Friendship in Bayfront Park. The crowd held signs and chanted as bus drivers and passersby honked and yelled in solidarity with the movement. Unemployed residents, students, union members and countless other groups were represented in the rally denouncing corporate greed.

Hundreds of protesters later marched down to Government Center to occupy the area.

Pedro Santana, who was among the protesters, tells The Florida Independent the group is hoping to occupy Government Center as long as possible.

“If we could make it to Monday,” he says, “I will be very happy.”

Once the work week begins, it is unknown whether an occupation in a busy part of the city will face problems. In the meantime, via Facebook and Twitter, the protesters are asking supporters to join them in occupying the area on Sunday. Occupy Miami’s Facebook page already has over 10,000 supporters.

Here are pictures of Saturday’s event:

Catch more images on our sister site, The Florida Independent.

Occupy Wall Street has been gaining momentum all over the country, including in Florida. In the past few days Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale and others saw demonstrations in solidarity with the New York-based movement.

The weekend before, a spontaneous protest took place in downtown Miami. About 200 people of all ages showed up to demonstrate. Following the momentum seen all over the country, groups are looking to show their support in greater numbers in cities all over the country — and Miami is among the cities looking to take continued action.

Much like the Occupy Wall Street movement, Miami demonstrators are not looking to choose leaders or decide on a single demand. Right now, veteran political activists and newcomers  are looking to join a movement that expresses their many grievances with the state of the country. This movement, and the excitement that surrounds it, has provided the opportunity for large numbers to express their concerns.

On Saturday, the crowd was made up of a mixture of college-age students and older activists, among others. The large informal meeting provided an opportunity for people to air their concerns as well as decide where and when to meet for a demonstration or gathering on Saturday.

Gathered in a circle on a college campus, speakers discussed issues that ranged from income inequality, campaign finance, homelessness, debt and environmental issues. Mostly, though, members of the meeting were angry at the state of the economy and how it disproportionately affected them and others who were already struggling.

This sentiment was echoed on Sunday among a crowd of mostly veteran activists at the Miami Workers’ Center, located in Liberty City in Miami.

While some in the meeting were adjusting to the less formal, structured identity of this movement, most were excited to see visible anger and movement from a collective in the city.

The frustration over deepening economic disparities was the focus of most of the conversations taking place on Sunday, among other issues. The New York Times reports that “between June 2009, when the recession officially ended, and June 2011, inflation-adjusted median household income fell 6.7 percent, to $49,909, according to a study by two former Census Bureau officials”:

During the recession — from December 2007 to June 2009 — household income fell 3.2 percent.

The finding helps explain why Americans’ attitudes toward the economy, the country’s direction and its political leaders have continued to sour even as the economy has been growing. Unhappiness and anger have come to dominate the political scene, including the early stages of the 2012 presidential campaign.

Groups in Miami have decided to hold another gathering this Saturday at the Torch of Friendship near Bayside in Miami.

The appeal espouses the notion that LGBT-rights groups are “desperate to divide the Republican Party,” given Ros-Lehtinen is the lone Republican joining 124 Democrats co-sponsoring the repeal of DOMA.

In a newsletter emailed to donors Tuesday evening, NOM President Brian Brown asked supporters to tell the congresswoman they are “outraged that she would abandon marriage and the millions of voters who have adopted state amendments to protect marriage.”

To make it easy, NOM has crafted a letter for supporters to send:

Dear Rep. Ros-Lehtinen,

I am writing to express my disappointment and deep concern that you would abandon traditional Republican principles of marriage, family, and democratic self-government. Marriage is a bedrock of our society, and I urge you to re-consider your position on DOMA.

By co-sponsoring Rep. Nadler’s bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, you are placing in jeopardy the laws of marriage in more the 40 states, threatening to impose same-sex marriage on voters across the nation who have resoundingly rejected same-sex marriage at every turn.

I urge you to drop your support for the repeal of DOMA, and to respect the voice of the American people, including the people of Florida, who have already voted to keep marriage as it has always been — the union of a husband and wife.

In a statement issued by the Log Cabin Republicans last week, Ros-Lehtinen explained that she co-sponsored the repeal of DOMA because, ”I firmly believe that equality is enshrined in our constitution and in our great democracy.”

The Florida representative has consistently co-sponsored LGBT-friendly legislation and recently joined the brand-new Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus.

“Gay marriage activists know they don’t need to persuade the Republican grassroots to support same-sex marriage – they just need to split off enough GOP elite opinion to provide cover as they force SSM on the entire nation,” Brown writes in Tuesday’s newsletter. “Several prominent GOP elites have already signed on, and gay marriage activists are spending millions of dollars to pressure and persuade more Republican lawmakers that they can support same-sex marriage without consequence.

“And maybe it’s time Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen started looking for a new job,” he added.

While accusing groups such as the Human Rights Campaign, the Log Cabin Republicans and Freedom to Marry of using money and influence to sway lawmakers on the same-sex marriage issue and to “gut the [Republican Party] platform of its traditional support for life and marriage,” Brown reminds supporters that NOM has committed to spending $2 million “to defeat the turncoat senators” who broke party ranks to vote for the marriage equality in New York in June.

NOM has taken credit for former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s congressional seat in New York’s 9th District recently going to Republican Bob Turner rather than Democrat David Weprin — because NOM donated money to the race.

The study (.pdf) attributed Florida’s struggles to the housing crisis in the state. Florida, in particular, experienced a housing price boom that was followed by a bust that the state has yet to fully recover from.

According to Brookings, “twelve metropolitan areas, including three in Florida, had slowdowns of both job growth and output growth.” Overall (measuring through the recession and recovery), Florida has seven of the 20 lowest performing metro areas.

Despite mostly static unemployment numbers, Gov. Rick Scott insisted Friday that the state is on the “right path.” Scott told the Florida Chamber of Commerce in Orlando today that “his agenda of trimming government costs and regulations is working,” according to the Associated Press.