Latina teen pregnancy has been on the rise and has become a national cause of concern. Even with the background of concerned Latino parents the knowledge that attending college or pursuing a career might get hampered due to teenage pregnancy, more than half of all Hispanic girls in the United States experience teen pregnancy.

On Tuesday, Lawmakers and representatives from Latino organizations gathered at Capitol Hill to ponder over this problem. In the current time nationally, 30 percent of young women have at least one pregnancy before age 20 while that rate climbs to 53 percent in case of Latinas.

A recent survey which included 759 Hispanic teens and 915 Hispanic adults showed that the overall teen birth rate is on the rise after 14 consecutive years of decline.

The study also revealed that although three-quarters of the Hispanic teens said their parents talked to them about sex, only half said their parents mentioned contraception.

The survey also found that the parents had different points of view on sex while talking to boys or girls. The boys were usually encouraged to go out and become a man at a very young age while the teen girls were strictly protected and kept under curfews.

Ruthie Flores, Senior Manager of The National Campaign said that parents' protective efforts often backfire. For instance, she pointed that teen girls often seek out older men and the average age-difference between Hispanic teen girls and their boyfriends is four years.

"Latina teens, once they reach a certain age, are seeking that freedom, that liberation," Flores said. "They do a lot of things behind their parents' backs."

"We are focusing too much on girls and leaving out the boys," said Dr. Maria Rosa, vice president for the Institute for Hispanic Health at the National council of La Raza.