MotherJones.com | MoJoBlog - Social Issues and Political Commentary: Teen Birth Rate at a Record Low

« Outsourcing American Journalism? Meet the Bangalore Bureau | Blog Index | NYPD Watches From Above »

Teen Birth Rate at a Record Low

The CDC released data yesterday showing that last year the birth rate in the U.S. for women aged 15 to 19 declined to a record low of 40.4 births per 1,000, down from 41.1 in 2004 (a 2% decrease). For some perspective, the rate back in 1991 was 68.1 births per 1,000 women. The decline was most pronounced among 15-17 year-olds, for whom the birth rate fell 3%, to 21.4 births per 1,000. The rate for this age group has dropped fully 45 percent since 1991.

Now, folks at the the National Abstinence Clearinghouse will laud these results as directly stemming from their abstinence-only education efforts, though there is no evidence that such education works, and plenty that the curricula is false and misleading. (Still abstinence-only ed shops have received a billion dollars in federal funding since Bush came to office.)

Choicers will be equally proud of the low rate, which they'll point out is an outgrowth of proper access to birth control and, thus, fewer unwanted pregnancies. Still, while we'll be hearing about the record low, coverage likely won't focus on the flip side, that there were nearly half a million (421,123) children born to girls under 20 last year.

There is more work to be done for sure to protect women's right to choose -- whether they want to have an abortion, or take a pill, or have sex before marriage -- and though there was lots of good news out of this month's election, repro rights are still in jeopardy. The Nation's Katha Pollitt points out that of the 22 pro-choice Dems who ran for Congress only two won, and every anti-choice woman incumbent prevailed.

Comments

According to a Texas A&M University study, students in almost all high school grades were MORE sexually active after abstinence education; not that the programs encouraged teenagers to have sex, only that the abstinence message didn't interfere with the USUAL TRENDS among adolescents growing up.
Perhaps the reason kids aren't properly understanding the message can be explained by the findings of a study by David Bellinger, PhD, a Children's Hospital Boston neuropsychology researcher, whom found that children with higher manganese and arsenic levels in their hair had significantly lower IQ scores--by an average of ten points--than children with low levels of both metals.
Oh sure, dear George W, has spent a BILLION on abstinence-only education programs, however in 2001 the Bush administration announced that it would suspend the NEW ARSENIC-IN-TAP WATER STANDARD; it invited industry to argue for a standard higher than 20 parts per billion--the level EPA administrator Whitman had previously said was the highest number he would consider; the World Health Organization and the European Union have implemented a 10ppb standard.
What!!!???, how is it that Old Mother Hen George W. decided that EPA should reconsider its previous finding that arsenic likely causes cancer AT ANY DOSE--against the advice of a definitive 1999 National Academy of Sciences review of arsenic in drinking water???
Such, it's no big surprise that in an April 2004 Federal Register notice the EPA proposed ignoring the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences in deciding to ratify a list of 51 drinking water contaminants in compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Huh?, according to the EPA's own Inspector General's Office, officials at the EPA have repeatedly made misleading statements about supposed improvements in US drinking water quality. The internal report also cited numerous claims by senior Bush administration officials in 2004 and 2004 that incorrectly portrayed EPA's success at improving drinking water quality.
So..., doesn't it make sense that the Government should be more concerned with young mom's givng birth to healthy babies than wasting so much money on silly abstinence education (what a crock!!!).

Posted by: Michael L. Wagner on 11/22/06 at 1:26 PM

We need to provide every kind of birth control you can think of to people of all ages.

Posted by: Ames Tiedeman on 11/24/06 at 1:15 PM

A very good point about how right the left is getting. I didn't realize that so many of the dems that won were antichoice. The battle continues...

Posted by: Paul Miller on 11/25/06 at 11:56 AM

For most people, greater health benefits can be obtained by engaging in physical contains additional recommendations for specific populations. WBR LeoP

Posted by: Deductor on 01/21/07 at 5:37 PM