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Kids in the red states may not being doing all that well with keeping that teen pregnancy rate down, but overall, the kids are all right! Moms and dads nationwide should pat themselves on the back because the teen pregnancy rate, as well as abortion numbers in teens, fell to a record low in 2008 — and primarily because kids are obtaining and understanding birth control.
The Guttmacher Institute reports that numbers haven’t been this low in teen births and teen abortions since 1972. There was a peak in teen abortions in 1988, but we’re down 59% since those days. However, high rates persist among non-white kids as Guttmacher reports that black and Hispanic teens are two to four times more likely to experience pregnancy and to have an abortion than white kids.
About a quarter of this “long-term decline” in births and abortions might also be due to reduced sexual activity in kids, the researchers posit. But Kathryn Kost, a demographer with the Guttmacher Institute, attributes these overall low numbers to responsible and effective use of birth control. Which means that accessible birth control coupled with fact-based, comprehensive sex education is a worthwhile endeavor for the sake of protecting kids. A birth control vending machine in colleges complete with condoms and Plan B is a pretty smart idea too, as is addressing safe sex in the home.
(photo: Shutterstock)
I do not know where you got your information about few teens having sex because my 15 year old sister was telling me back when she was in 8th grade about all of the pregnant girls in 8th grade they didn’t even wait until high school before having sex. In 2006 when I graduated high school half of the female class was pregnant or already had a child. So sorry CW, but teen girls are not abstaining from sex maybe they are wising up and using protection but there are still teens having babies out there.
Of course, the Guttmacher Institute would credit contraception- they are part of Planned Parenthood. The truth is that fewer teens are having sex than in the past. Teen sex rates began declining in 1988, and today a majority of teens have NOT ever had sex. Teens who are not virgins are also having sex less frequently than in the past. Less teen sex = fewer teen pregnancies.
Then I guess teens in the red states are just having a LOT more sex than those in blue states…and I imagine that doesn’t fit into your theory too well, either.