Comments about ‘Teen birth rate hits 70-year low, Centers for Disease Control says’

What a great piece of news. Young ladies needlessly starting into adulthood is something the steals so much of their future potential.... hope the trend continues.

One thing this piece left out it that the states with the highest teen birthrates are the ones that either mandate abstinence only sex ed, or who have no sex ed programs in their schools. The states with the lowest rates are the ones with comprehensive sex ed classes in schools.

Perhaps that's just a coincidence, but probably not.

Sounds like the perfect time to stop teaching teenagers sex ed, and the dangers of sex. Well done Utah.

Is the abortion rate at a 70 yr. high? Just curious. Maybe there is a corelation.

Willie, my thought exactly: More abortions or less pregnancies?

How disappointing it must be for the religious to read this and struggle to find some negative spin that will help maintain their false sense of moral superiority over the corrupt and fallen society they are trying to save from destruction.

The abortion rate has declined by 30% over the last thirty years. So lower teen births are decidedly not about more abortions.

Roland,

Unfortunately, your claims are contrary to empirical reality. The truth is that teen birthrates tend to go down - often dramatically - in states that have adopted abstinence-first education (different than abstinence ONLY) as compared to "comprehensive" sex ed programs that emphasize values-free clinical plumbing & condom lessons and not abstinence.
In more liberal areas like the Northeast, the teen pregnancy rates are typically higher than the national average, but the also-much-higher abortion rates push down the actual teen birthrates artificially. The fact that abortion rates have uniformly gone down nationwide doesn't change this relative difference among the states.

Observed Empirical Reality: On average, abstinence-first states have substantially lower teen abortion and pregnancy rates (all different concepts) when compared to more liberal states. If the higher liberal-state abortion rates are controlled for, then teen birthrates are also lower.

Voice of Reason,

Sources please. Your unsupported assertions are decidedly unreasonable.

@Voice of Reason
“In more liberal areas like the Northeast, the teen pregnancy rates are typically higher than the national average”
Interesting. I found some facts that completely contradict your claims. These were dated January 2010, data was through 2006 I believe.
10 states with the highest teen PREGNANCY rate were: New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Mississippi, Delaware, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina. Again, that’s PREGNANCY rate, not BIRTH rate. Call me crazy, but all but 2 of those states will be Red come November.

Teen Pregnancy (

TeenPregnancy Rate, top ten GOP states as measured by GOP margin of victory in last five presidential elections: 31.6 per 1,000.

Teen Pregnancy Rate, top ten Democrat states as measured by Democrat margin of victory in last five presidential elections: 34.64 per 1,000. That would be HIGHER than 31.6, for those of you in Rio Linda.

While the difference is not nearly as pronounced as the teen abortion rate, it still puts to bed the myth that liberal states have lower teen pregnancy rates. In reality, conservative states have somewhat (but not dramatically) lower teen pregnancy rates. (sources: US election records, Guttmacher Institute. Maybe the Planned Parenthoood-tied Guttmacher Institute is really a right-wing spin house...why don't you check that out.) The real story is in the dramatically higher baby-snuffing abortion rates in Democrat states:

Teen Abortion Rate, Top 10 GOP states: 5.70 per 1,000.
Teen Abortion Rate, Top 10 Democrat states: 14.82 per 1,000; almost 3 TIMES the GOP state rate. Not a typo.
"Safe, legal and rare." Hmmm. Legal? Yes. Safe? Not for the baby. Rare? Hardly.