As More Young Americans Are Using Birth Control, Teen Births Have Hit A New Record Low

As More Young Americans Are Using Birth Control, Teen Births Have Hit A New Record Low

BY TARA CULP-RESSLER ON SEPTEMBER 6, 2013 AT 8:59 AMThe U.S. teen birth rate has hit its lowest point in the entire 

73 years that the government has been collecting the data, 

according to a new report from the National Center for 

Health Statistics. Researchers say that’s partly because more 

youth are now opting to use effective forms of birth control.

In 2012, there were 29.4 births for every thousand Americans 

teens between the ages of 15 and 19. That represents a six percent

 drop from the year before — and fits into a larger pattern of 

declining teen births across the country. The teen birth rate has 

been steadily falling since 1991. At this point, there are less than 

half the number of children born to teenage mothers than there were 

in 1970, when the teen birth rate hit its peak.

Dr. John Santelli, a professor of population and family health 

at Columbia University who was not connected to the government 

study, told NBC Newsthat the 2012 figures represent “a considerable 

one year drop.” But Santelli also noted that isn’t because there’s 

been much change in teenagers’ sexual activity over the past decade. 

There aren’t fewer adolescents having sex, and there aren’t an increased 

number of abortions being performed.

“What we have seen is greater availability of much more effective 

birth control methods,” Santelli explained. Particularly as more 

medical professionals have been recommending 

long-lasting forms of contraception to their teenage patients, 

Santelli believes more adolescents have been able to take 

effective steps to avoid pregnancy.

“This stunning turnaround in teen birth represents one of the 

nation’s great success stories of the past two decades,

” Bill Albert, the chief program officer at the National Campaign 

to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, told U.S. News & World Report. 

“This report shows that significant progress can and has been made 

on a very challenging social problem that many once considered both 

unsolvable and inevitable.”

Although the national teen birth rate continues to set new record 

lows, there are still significant regional disparities within the 

United States. States in the South, which tend to 

lack adequate sexual health instruction in public schools, 

still have stubbornly high teen birth rates. While some states 

are slowly moving away from abstinence-only education in order 

to attempt to change that, conservatives still tend to

 resist efforts to expand sexual health resources for teens.

Ultimately, though, teaching youth about birth control

 isn’t a controversial policy. The vast majority of Americans 

support expanding comprehensive sex ed — particularly after 

they see the direct results. In California, for example, teen births

 plunged by 60 percent after the state invested more resources 

in sexual health education.