Give Teens Free Birth Control and Watch Pregnancy and Abortion Rates Plummet
Contraception prevents pregnancy. It follows, then, that widespread access to contraception among certain populations can reduce pregnancy rates in those populations. Right? Well that’s exactly what an important new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found with regard to teenagers. Researchers concluded that giving teens access to education about contraception and to free birth control can cause their pregnancy rates to plunge — and, as a result, can reduce teen abortion rates by up to 78 percent.
The findings come from several years of study by the Contraceptive CHOICE Project, which gave over 1,400 already sexually active St. Louis teens no cost birth control of their choice. Of the approximately 500 minors aged 14 to 17 involved in the study, half reported a previous unintended pregnancy, and nearly a fifth had had at least one abortion. Researchers found, however, that the young women were amenable to trying different contraceptive options. Additionally, when offered knowledge of their choices, as well as a variety of choices, teens tended to opt for long-acting birth control methods such as IUDs and hormonal implants. Just this week, the American Academy of Pediatrics determined that these methods are the most effective for teens; the CHOICE study finds that they are also the most desirable.
“When we removed barriers to contraception for teens such as lack of knowledge, limited access and cost in a group of teens, we were able to lower pregnancy, birth and abortion rates,” Gina Secura, director of the CHOICE Project and the study’s lead author, said in a statement. “This study demonstrates t
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