The teenage pregnancy rate in the United States increased by 3 percent in 2006, the latest year for which reliable statistics are available. The nation recorded a 4 percent increase in births and a 1 percent increase in abortions among adolescent girls, according to a new study from Guttmacher Institute.
This is the first time in 10 years that pregnancy rates among teens has not gone down.
- Between 1990 and 2005, the pregnancy rate declined 41 percent among females ages 15 to 19 years old .
- This represented a drop from 117 pregnancies per 1000 girls to 70 per 1000.
- Abortions declined 56 percent among teenagers during that same period.
"It is too soon to tell whether the increase in teen pregnancy 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," said Lawrence Finer, director of domestic research at the Institute.
A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study published in the journal
Pediatrics found an increase of 1 percent in the teen birth rate in 2007.
Labels: pregnancy, health, teenagers, abortion
Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments
