PERSPECTIVES ON TEEN PREGNANCY : We Need Tough Laws , Consistent Messages. : Prosecute the men responsible and give girls the self-esteem and knowledge they need to resist early sex.

At dinner recently, my mother, a high school teacher for more than 25 years, told me she was disappointed because one of her star students, a bright and energetic 15-year-old girl, had worn a sweatshirt that day and the day before.

When I asked my mother why wearing a sweatshirt two days in a row was so tragic, she looked at me, as if I were from another planet. “Mi hijita,” she said, “that’s how you know the young girls are pregnant.” She said the girls hide their conditions for as long as possible and once they start to show, they wear oversized sweatshirts.

My mother’s disappointment was palpable. She knew that it would be more difficult for her star pupil to finish high school and, given the time and financial demands of providing for another human being, to attain the career and family goals she had told my mother about.

The girl’s experience is not unique. Each year, 1 million teenagers become pregnant, statistics that prompted President Clinton to begin a national campaign against teen pregnancy. California has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the country; Gov. Pete Wilson has targeted the prosecution of adult men who engage in sex with girls under 18. This pilot program is important in light of the study by the Alan Guttmacher Institute last year, which found that the younger the mother was, the greater the usual age difference between her and the baby’s father. According to the study, in 20% of cases, the father is six or more years older than the mother; fully half of the fathers of babies born to girls between 15 and 17 were 20 or older.

Adult men who prey on young girls should be punished and vilified. Perhaps the threat of incarceration will deter some of them from impregnating young girls. For those who still choose to break the law, at least they will not be able to target other young girls once they are prosecuted and incarcerated.

Yet one must contrast this with a recent case in Texas in which three adult male students, one of them 19, had sex with a 13-year-old girl during school hours. The girl provided each with a condom. Under Texas law, the male students committed aggravated sexual assault on a child, a felony punishable by life in prison. The first time the case went before a Dallas grand jury, the jury declined to indict the three students. The case went back to the grand jury and this time the three were indicted on charges of public lewdness, a misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of a year in jail. One cannot say for sure why the only charges were misdemeanors, but I suspect that because the girl provided condoms, the jurors decided that she had consented to have sex with the young men. But the fact remains that she was 13.

Punishing the adult male is important and cannot be discounted. But if a grand jury applies the law as it is written and the father of the child is actually jailed, what of the girl and her baby? Presumably the welfare system will provide the safety net. We all know that welfare is a shrinking net that may not be available. The answer is to educate underage girls. Some may know about contraception, as did the 13-year-old in Texas. But she was not mature enough to understand the consequences of her actions. Would it not have been better for her to have been educated about life’s choices?

Research by Girls Inc., a youth organization that provides direct services and advocates for girls, shows that age-appropriate sexuality education that enhances girls’ knowledge, skills and resources is effective in enabling them to delay sexual activity and pregnancy. Girls Inc. has learned that sexuality education must start by age 9 and continue through age 18, as a girl takes increasing responsibility for her well-being. Girls need to learn the skills to resist early sexual activity and to practice these skills.

Preventing teen pregnancy requires more than implementing tough sexual predator laws and enforcing them. A young girl who lacks self-esteem, parental involvement or basic information must receive consistent messages and reliable adult support at home, in school and in the community.