A radio drama written and directed by an MFA student at the University of Iowa aims to empower Latina women about sexual health. The program, called “La Noche Te De Sorpresas,” or “The Night Gives You Surprises,” is broadcast in Spanish and is one of two culturally-specific radio shows being launched by the University of Iowa College of Public Health and the Iowa Initiative to Reduce Unintended Pregnancies.

The program is broadcast by four stations throughout Iowa on Saturdays, and a 15-minute drama, directed by Tony Meneses, is followed by a 45-minute question and answer session that refers listeners to health care providers and community organizations.

Meneses, who is Mexican-American, says that “unintended pregnancy often isn’t a topic of conversation” in Hispanic communities. That silence perpetuates not only the burden of unplanned pregnancy among Latina women, but also the transmission of HIV and other STIs. A 2006 study found that, in California, the rate of HIV among Latina women was twice as high as the rate among white, non-Latina women, and that almost a third of all HIV-positive women in the country are Latina.

But while stigma within the community may make it more difficult to address sexual health, a more significant obstacle is economic inequality, as a September report from the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health points out. The report cites research that finds that a young woman’s neighborhood matters: in an area with higher median household income and better access to family planning services, more adolescent women use contraception. Unfortunately, Latinas are disproportionately likely to live in areas with few family planning clinics.

Latinas are also less likely to delay pregnancy because they don’t see college a realistic option for them:

Many women and men delay childbirth to finish their education, but a disproportionate number of Latino youth leave high school, and many others simply cannot afford the cost of university tuition. For low income adolescents with fewer opportunities, early childbirth is “less costly in terms of opportunities lost.” Indeed, research indicates that being in school, doing well in school while one is there, and believing that one will be able to continue on to college are all protective against early childbearing.

And there’s a simpler reason why young Latinas are less likely to use contraception: one in five has no health insurance. (And the health care obstructionists on Capitol Hill would like to keep it that way.)

It’s clear that it’s not only Latina women who need attention, but also the systems around them, most notably public education and health care. According to another study, the rate of unintended pregnancy among Latinas is more than twice that of white, non-Hispanic teens. And, as the article in the Iowa City Press-Citizen points out, teenagers aren’t the only ones affected by unplanned pregnancy: women whose families are complete are often surprised by a pregnancy:

Unintended pregnancy includes mistimed conceptions, a pregnancy that is sooner than planned, and unwanted conceptions, including after a woman has decided to not have any more children.

Iowa’s radio program is valuable in that it helps women make the most of resources in their communities—whether they’re the urban communities of Des Moines or Waterloo or the rural communities that make up much of the state.