US Teen Pregnancy Rate Drops Due to Contraception Access, Remains High in Abstinence-Only Red States
Because of an increase of contraception usage, teen girls are preventing themselves from having an unwanted pregnancy that heightens their chances of having an abortion, ending up in poverty, or quitting school. And why are teen girls increasing their usage of contraception? Since taking office, the Obama Administration has made a point of increasing access to contraception. Not only do we have the Affordable Care Act, that mandates insurance companies to cover contraception as part of health plans, the FDA has made birth control available over the counter to women as young as 15. But that’s not all. It’s not enough to have more access to contraception, teen girls also have to know about contraception, which is where comprehensive sex education comes in. Comprehensive sex education teaches teens how to protect themselves if they choose to have sex. When teens are armed with the knowledge to protect themselves, they are more than likely to do so.
Take California for example. Earlier this summer, the state released a report showing that teen pregnancy has dropped across the state and credited comprehensive sex education for the reduction. One Oklahoma school district hopes to copy California’s success. For decades, Oklahoma schools have focused solely on abstinence-only, which has resulted in the fourth highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation. Tulsa Public Schools has recognized the failure of abstinence-only and has decided to switch to comprehensive sex education to combat teen pregnancy. But while things are changing a little in Oklahoma and the overall teen pregnancy rate has dropped across the US, red states still have high rates.
According to ThinkProgress,
“The CDC found that the lowest rates of teen births are in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont — which each have rates under 17 births per 1,000 teen girls — while Arkansas and Mississippi have the highest rates at about 50 per 1,000. Overall, the highest rates of teen births continue to be concentrated in the South.”
Additionally, Southern states also have higher rates of STDs.
