FOLLOWING DECADE-LONG DECLINE, U.S. TEEN PREGNANCY RATE INCR
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Tuesday, January 26, 2010
FOLLOWING DECADE-LONG DECLINE, U.S. TEEN PREGNANCY RATE INCREASES AS BOTH BIRTHS AND ABORTIONS RISE
Gap Between Blacks and Hispanics Has Closed, But Rates Among Both Groups Remain Significantly Higher Than Among Non-Hispanic Whites
For the first time in more than a decade, the nation’s teen pregnancy rate rose 3% in 2006, reflecting increases in teen birth and abortion rates of 4% and 1%, respectively.
These new data from the Guttmacher Institute are especially noteworthy because they provide the first documentation of what experts have suspected for several years, based on trends in teens’ contraceptive use—that the overall teen pregnancy rate would increase in the mid-2000s following steep declines in the 1990s and a subsequent plateau in the early 2000s. The significant drop in teen pregnancy rates in the 1990s was overwhelmingly the result of more and better use of contraceptives among sexually active teens. However, this decline started to stall out in the early 2000s, at the same time that sex education programs aimed exclusively at promoting abstinence—and prohibited by law from discussing the benefits of contraception—became increasingly widespread and teens’ use of contraceptives declined.
“After more than a decade of progress, this reversal is deeply troubling,” says Heather Boonstra, Guttmacher Institute senior public policy associate. “It coincides with an increase in rigid abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, which received major funding boosts under the Bush administration. A strong body of research shows that these programs do not work. Fortunately, the heyday of this failed experiment has come to an end with the enactment of a new teen pregnancy prevention initiative that ensures that programs will be age-appropriate, medically accurate and, most importantly, based on research demonstrating their effectiveness.”
The teen pregnancy rate declined 41% between its peak, in 1990 (116.9 pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15–19), and 2005 (69.5 per 1,000). Teen birth and abortion rates also declined, with births dropping 35% between 1991 and 2005 and teen abortion declining 56% between its peak, in 1988, and 2005. But all three trends reversed in 2006. In that year, there were 71.5 pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15–19. Put another way, about 7% of teen girls became pregnant in 2006.
Just as the long-term declines in teen pregnancy occurred among all racial and ethnic groups through 2005, the reversal in 2006 also involved all demographic groups:
Among black teens, the pregnancy rate declined by 45% (from 223.8 per 1,000 in 1990 to 122.7 in 2005), before increasing to 126.3 in 2006.
Among Hispanic teens, the pregnancy rate decreased by 26% (from 169.7 per 1,000 in 1992 to 124.9 in 2005), before rising to 126.6 in 2006.
Among non-Hispanic white teens, the pregnancy rate declined 50% (from 86.6 per 1,000 in 1990 to 43.3 per 1,000 in 2005), before increasing to 44.0 in 2006.
Because the decline among black teens was so much greater than that among Hispanics, the long-standing gap between the two groups has disappeared. However, the gap between white teens and teens of color is as large as ever.
State-level data are not yet available for 2006, but varied widely in 2005. The highest pregnancy rates were in New Mexico (93 per 1,000 women 15–19), Nevada (90), Arizona (89), Texas (88) and Mississippi (85), and the lowest rates were in New Hampshire (33), Vermont (40), Maine (48), Minnesota (47) and North Dakota (46). Teen pregnancy rates declined in every state between 1988 and 2000, and in every state except North Dakota between 2000 and 2005.
“It is too soon to tell whether the increase in the teen pregnancy rate between 2005 and 2006 is a short term fluctuation, a more lasting stabilization or the beginning of a significant new trend, any of which would be of great concern,” says < a href="http://www.guttmacher.org/media/experts/finer.html">Lawrence Finer, Guttmacher’s director of domestic research. “Either way, it is clearly time to redouble our efforts to make sure our young people have the information, interpersonal skills and health services they need to prevent unwanted pregnancies and to become sexually healthy adults.”
http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2010/01/26/index.html
FOLLOWING DECADE-LONG DECLINE, U.S. TEEN PREGNANCY RATE INCREASES AS BOTH BIRTHS AND ABORTIONS RISE
Gap Between Blacks and Hispanics Has Closed, But Rates Among Both Groups Remain Significantly Higher Than Among Non-Hispanic Whites
For the first time in more than a decade, the nation’s teen pregnancy rate rose 3% in 2006, reflecting increases in teen birth and abortion rates of 4% and 1%, respectively.
These new data from the Guttmacher Institute are especially noteworthy because they provide the first documentation of what experts have suspected for several years, based on trends in teens’ contraceptive use—that the overall teen pregnancy rate would increase in the mid-2000s following steep declines in the 1990s and a subsequent plateau in the early 2000s. The significant drop in teen pregnancy rates in the 1990s was overwhelmingly the result of more and better use of contraceptives among sexually active teens. However, this decline started to stall out in the early 2000s, at the same time that sex education programs aimed exclusively at promoting abstinence—and prohibited by law from discussing the benefits of contraception—became increasingly widespread and teens’ use of contraceptives declined.
“After more than a decade of progress, this reversal is deeply troubling,” says Heather Boonstra, Guttmacher Institute senior public policy associate. “It coincides with an increase in rigid abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, which received major funding boosts under the Bush administration. A strong body of research shows that these programs do not work. Fortunately, the heyday of this failed experiment has come to an end with the enactment of a new teen pregnancy prevention initiative that ensures that programs will be age-appropriate, medically accurate and, most importantly, based on research demonstrating their effectiveness.”
The teen pregnancy rate declined 41% between its peak, in 1990 (116.9 pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15–19), and 2005 (69.5 per 1,000). Teen birth and abortion rates also declined, with births dropping 35% between 1991 and 2005 and teen abortion declining 56% between its peak, in 1988, and 2005. But all three trends reversed in 2006. In that year, there were 71.5 pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15–19. Put another way, about 7% of teen girls became pregnant in 2006.
Just as the long-term declines in teen pregnancy occurred among all racial and ethnic groups through 2005, the reversal in 2006 also involved all demographic groups:
Among black teens, the pregnancy rate declined by 45% (from 223.8 per 1,000 in 1990 to 122.7 in 2005), before increasing to 126.3 in 2006.
Among Hispanic teens, the pregnancy rate decreased by 26% (from 169.7 per 1,000 in 1992 to 124.9 in 2005), before rising to 126.6 in 2006.
Among non-Hispanic white teens, the pregnancy rate declined 50% (from 86.6 per 1,000 in 1990 to 43.3 per 1,000 in 2005), before increasing to 44.0 in 2006.
Because the decline among black teens was so much greater than that among Hispanics, the long-standing gap between the two groups has disappeared. However, the gap between white teens and teens of color is as large as ever.
State-level data are not yet available for 2006, but varied widely in 2005. The highest pregnancy rates were in New Mexico (93 per 1,000 women 15–19), Nevada (90), Arizona (89), Texas (88) and Mississippi (85), and the lowest rates were in New Hampshire (33), Vermont (40), Maine (48), Minnesota (47) and North Dakota (46). Teen pregnancy rates declined in every state between 1988 and 2000, and in every state except North Dakota between 2000 and 2005.
“It is too soon to tell whether the increase in the teen pregnancy rate between 2005 and 2006 is a short term fluctuation, a more lasting stabilization or the beginning of a significant new trend, any of which would be of great concern,” says < a href="http://www.guttmacher.org/media/experts/finer.html">Lawrence Finer, Guttmacher’s director of domestic research. “Either way, it is clearly time to redouble our efforts to make sure our young people have the information, interpersonal skills and health services they need to prevent unwanted pregnancies and to become sexually healthy adults.”
http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2010/01/26/index.html
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Comments
i guess all of that funding for abstinence-only focused sex education was well-spent.... :roll:
teach these kids about condoms and other forms of B/C for god's sake...
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
Yep. I went back and bolded the parts about how this coincides with abstinence-only sex ed. I hope those who are "pro-life" and also support abstinence-only sex ed will note the increase in abortions as well.
exactly.
such a shame...
oh and i say TEACH...and easy ACCESS...and more importantly, beat down the societal stigmas surrounding it all.
Let's just breathe...
I am myself like you somehow
ain't that the truth!
:?
Let's just breathe...
I am myself like you somehow
my thoughts exactly
intercourse is an urge. a basic human drive. the desire to continue the species. its just like the urge to eat... i do not care what anyone says, you can not "just say no" to it like the reagans made me do with drugs...that approach only fosters the desire to experiment and experience it. later, in 7th grade, the same kids that were in my grade 5 class, we had 4 girls end up getting pregnant and having babies. i wonder how different things would be if we had been taught about condoms and birth control measures, and ways to deal with those urges such as masturbation...the previous administration committed the same error in judgement as the reagans.
the more you tell kids sex is bad and "don't do it because i said so", the more they are going to experiment. education of the consequences and preventive measures goes a long way....
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
I agree. Or, even if telling them not to do it doesn't cause them to experiment more, it at least causes them to be unprepared when they (naturally) do have sex some day.
My female cousin who just turned 14 (but is already in high school) came to visit me over Christmas and I asked her what they were learning about sex in school. She said she had purposefully gotten out of having to go to sex ed class. I asked how she would learn about sex, contraception, etc. She's very religious (goes to those purity balls and everything) and said she didn't need to learn about sex, etc. because she wasn't going to have sex until she was married. I asked how she was going to learn about everything for when she had sex when she was married and she said by then she would know about it - but she couldn't say how she would obtain all this knowledge.
I also mentioned that, whether they actually did it or not, kids usually started having the desire to have sex in high school. She said she wouldn't and neither would the guys she dated because she was only going to date Chrisian guys. She seems very unprepared for the reality that Christian boys are horny too - and that she will be horny some day as well. I hope she's able to negotiate those situations when they arise, and that she'll somehow be educated enough by then to not be one of those kids who thinks they can engage in oral sex, anal sex, and all kinds of other sexual activity with no consequences as long as it isn't traditional sexual intercourse. And I hope she learns to deal with her own sexual urges - and those of others - in an emotionally healthy way.
Your post has inspired me to add to my signature, by the way.
if your cousin does not learn from her school, she may not learn from her parents, and god knows she will not learn from her church, so she is probably going to learn from her friends, and in my experience, when i was a teenager most of my guy friends did not know what the hell they were talking about. their idea of contraception was the "pull out and pray" technique.
people need to face the facts that no matter how strong these kids think their will power and convictions are, shit happens, they go to parties, drink wine coolers, and before they know it they are in a bad situation and are unable to say no...they need to have the facts so they can at least try to protect themselves and prevent an accidental pregnancy...we are adults so it is easier for us to be responsible... studies have shown that the rate of oral and anal sex is significantly higher in the teenage population that have taken these purity pledges, and that these pledges do not in fact work very well. case in point, bristol palin, the poster girl of abstinence only education...i guess they think that shaming someone into not having intercourse is the best way to go about it.....
haha i like the sig by the way....
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
I think that's exactly what they think. Unfortunately, kids still have sex, but they're just too ashamed to step up and get birth control.
(And don't even get me started about the belief that even masturbation is a sin. I once had a male housemate in his 20's whose conflict between 1) his sexual desires and 2) his religious beliefs about sex/masterbation nearly drove him to suicide... or rape.)
People need to learn to be sexually healthy, both physically and emotionally.
I suspect that with the decline in sex ed there has been a decline in STD education and an increase in teens getting diseases
really pregnancy doesn't scare a lot of kids, most of think it can't happen to them
but getting warts on your penis that is a reason to wear a condom
good point. but i am thinking that the same people thinking pregnancy is never going to happen to them is thinking the same thing about the genital warts or "the clap" never happening to them as well....
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."