This is the first in a three-part series of stories about the rate of teen pregnancy in Warren County.

Brittany Stocks was just ending her 10th-grade year at Vicksburg High School when she made a choice that changed her life forever. She became a mother.

She was 16, playing high school tennis, marching with the color guard and academically rising to the honor roll. She hadn’t planned on becoming pregnant.

Now, raising her daughter, Stocks sees her reality as daughter Ashley. “I never had done anything bad,” she said. “I never expected this to happen to me.”

Now 18, Stocks is one of a growing number of teenage girls in Warren County dealing with pregnancy.

In 2006, Mississippi ranked third in the country for the number of teen pregnancies – 41 of every 1,000 girls in their teens were pregnant. It was the highest since 1995, the year the Mississippi Department of Health started tracking the numbers. That year, 49.9 of every 1,000 teen girls were pregnant.

Like the state, Warren County teen pregnancies saw a decline after record-keeping started and prevention efforts kicked in. But now, both are seeing a rise – and it’s quick.

In 1995 in Warren County, 55.2 out of 1,000 teen girls were pregnant. It dropped to 48.9 in 1996, but in the late