Teen Birth Rate Rises for First Time in 15 Years

[aephi alum]

Let's hear it for abstinence-only sex education.

The reality is, teenagers are going to have sex, no matter how often you tell them not to. So they need to be educated that, while abstinence is arguably best, if you do not choose abstinence, you should be using a condom. (Or a diaphragm, or the pill, or something. A condom is best because it also protects against STDs.)

It's also worth noting that seven of these ten states require parental consent, and an eighth (Georgia) requires parental notification, for a minor to get an abortion. If I had been unlucky enough to become pregnant at age 15 (unlikely as I wasn't sexually active back then, and if I had been, I would have insisted on a condom), I could have walked into any abortion clinic in New York and said, "I want an abortion." But if I had lived in Mississippi, where the consent of BOTH parents is required, my uber-religious pro-life parents would have prevented me from getting an abortion. I would have had to carry the pregnancy to term and then either place the child for adoption or wave bye-bye to a college education and a career.

[LΩVE]

I was shocked in my college Health class by the amount of people that thought condoms were 99% effective, that pulling out was about the same, and that didn't know how to probably use the pill (like some thought as long as you took it almost every day it would day, but that skipping a day wouldn't hurt anything). My high school health class was less than useless when it came to sex, but my parents educated me (though I was brought up in a strictly abstinence-only home with extremely Christian parents I was taught about condoms, the pill, etc. and how effective they were) by talking to me and sending me to a program in the area when I was in 5th or 6th grade. So I didn't understand how ignorant some people were. Also, pregnancy was a more important worry than STD's, even with people that had frequently changed partners and didn't use condoms.

I don't know if it isn't taught, if people just don't listen, or if it's the teen attitude of "it won't happen to me", but some people just don't get it. In my hometown teen pregnancy didn't happen, literally. (Or at least births didn't). Not one person had a baby the entire time I was there. I expected it to be a relatively uncommon occurrence in college as most people in college are there to achieve a degree and a job and realize that a baby will make those things more difficult to obtain. But I know a LOT of new moms. They've made the best of it and of course they love their kids, but their lives are harder now, and most don't have a father figure. I wish people were more careful.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by aephi alum

It's also worth noting that seven of these ten states require parental consent, and an eighth (Georgia) requires parental notification, for a minor to get an abortion. If I had been unlucky enough to become pregnant at age 15 (unlikely as I wasn't sexually active back then, and if I had been, I would have insisted on a condom), I could have walked into any abortion clinic in New York and said, "I want an abortion." But if I had lived in Mississippi, where the consent of BOTH parents is required, my uber-religious pro-life parents would have prevented me from getting an abortion. I would have had to carry the pregnancy to term and then either place the child for adoption or wave bye-bye to a college education and a career.

I think differences in culture may influence this decision even more that the law itself. I think if you look at abortion rates by states, you don't see a big spike in the rates of abortion of women right over the age at which they can get abortions without parent consent. To me this suggest that the attitude about abortion (or maybe easy availability of abortion) may be different period, rather than the just the parent notification laws.

And going by personal experience with the couple of pregnant teens I've known, they knew where to get condoms or other forms of birth control, and they knew how people got pregnant. Some even knew from close friends exactly how difficult parenting was. That knowledge didn't information their behavior though. The fun of sex and the "it won't happen to me" thinking (as well as "it might be fun to have a kid" thinking in a couple of cases) override the formal instruction they've been giving.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

The fun of sex and the "it won't happen to me" thinking (as well as "it might be fun to have a kid" thinking in a couple of cases) override the formal instruction they've been giving.

This is a BIG part of it. When you talk to kids about getting pregnant, they always say "Well, I'm smarter than Susie, it won't happen to me."

[KappaKittyCat]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

I think differences in culture may influence this decision even more that the law itself. I think if you look at abortion rates by states, you don't see a big spike in the rates of abortion of women right over the age at which they can get abortions without parent consent.

That depends on what data you're looking at. I'm interested to see your sources. Mine say differently.

Stanley Henshaw studied the impacts of Mississippi's parental consent law when it went into effect in 1993. What he found was that fewer 17-year-olds were having abortions, but more 18-year-olds were having late-term abortions: the state's second-trimester abortion rate increased by 19%. This study was published in the May-June edition of Family Planning Perspectives journal.

Ted Joyce, Robert Kaestner and Silvie Coleman studied Texas's parental notification law after it went into effect in 2000 and came to a similar conclusion. Quoting the article, the parental notification law was "associated with increased birth rates and rates of abortion during the second trimester among a subgroup of minors who were 17.50 to 17.74 years of age at the time of conception." This article was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in March 2006.

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

And going by personal experience with the couple of pregnant teens I've known, they knew where to get condoms or other forms of birth control, and they knew how people got pregnant. Some even knew from close friends exactly how difficult parenting was. That knowledge didn't information their behavior though. The fun of sex and the "it won't happen to me" thinking (as well as "it might be fun to have a kid" thinking in a couple of cases) override the formal instruction they've been giving.

I TOTALLY agree with this!

[Honeykiss1974]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

This is a BIG part of it. When you talk to kids about getting pregnant, they always say "Well, I'm smarter than Susie, it won't happen to me."

ITA! I think this is moreso it than anything else. No one ever thinks the screw up will happen to them because they are "better than that". Teens know how pregnancy occurs and how to prevent it (whether through abstinence or via BC).

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

And going by personal experience with the couple of pregnant teens I've known, they knew where to get condoms or other forms of birth control, and they knew how people got pregnant. Some even knew from close friends exactly how difficult parenting was. That knowledge didn't information their behavior though. The fun of sex and the "it won't happen to me" thinking (as well as "it might be fun to have a kid" thinking in a couple of cases) override the formal instruction they've been giving.

I wish it was true of just pregnant teens! I have a friend who's going to give birth in the next few weeks. She's my age, and her boyfriend is still in college. Ewwww! It's just a big mess...I don't get it. In college, my boyfriend and I were acutely aware of how much my getting pregnant would screw things up for both of us, so I wonder why they took that risk knowing that her career is temporarily derailed (she's in the same field as I, where you have to garner a certain number of work HOURS in order to be licensed), and his last months of college/first months of a career are not going to be as smooth as they would have been if they had just used a damn condom! I think she sees how much harder it's going to be for her than it is for our married friends who, while still got pregnant by accident, have the back-up of a larger apartment, more savings, and more work history to cushion the setback.

Totally off-topic, but I'm still skeeved out by it--and still kinda wasted from last night. I feel like this situation has made me a million times more vigilant about not getting pregnant!

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by KappaKittyCat

That depends on what data you're looking at. I'm interested to see your sources. Mine say differently.

Stanley Henshaw studied the impacts of Mississippi's parental consent law when it went into effect in 1993. What he found was that fewer 17-year-olds were having abortions, but more 18-year-olds were having late-term abortions: the state's second-trimester abortion rate increased by 19%. This study was published in the May-June edition of Family Planning Perspectives journal.

Ted Joyce, Robert Kaestner and Silvie Coleman studied Texas's parental notification law after it went into effect in 2000 and came to a similar conclusion. Quoting the article, the parental notification law was "associated with increased birth rates and rates of abortion during the second trimester among a subgroup of minors who were 17.50 to 17.74 years of age at the time of conception." This article was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in March 2006.

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2006/09/12/USTPstats.pdf

It could completely be my not paying enough attention, but when I looked at the most recent data by state it didn't appear that if you worked out the percentage of pregnancies ending in abortion, there was much real difference for the 15-17 vs 18-19 groups. I didn't work out the percentages; I just kind of looked at a couple of numbers. At first, it looks like a huge jump, but then your realize that that many more 18-19 year olds got pregnant to begin with.

Maybe I'm just reading it wrong or maybe the pattern that existed as the laws went into effect didn't continue very long. There's a note at the bottom of one page about estimates for a state with incomplete data perhaps being inaccurate because girls affected by parental consent laws traveled to other states for abortions. When the laws were new, girls may have waited to turn 18. Perhaps later, people advised them to go to the closest state without notification laws.

Mississippi looks like it's about 14% for 15-17 and 16% for 18-19
Texas looks like it's 15% vs. 18%.

Again, this is if I understand what there numbers represent and read the columns correctly when I scrolled down to look at the state.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

I wish it was true of just pregnant teens! I have a friend who's going to give birth in the next few weeks. She's my age, and her boyfriend is still in college. Ewwww! It's just a big mess...I don't get it. In college, my boyfriend and I were acutely aware of how much my getting pregnant would screw things up for both of us, so I wonder why they took that risk knowing that her career is temporarily derailed (she's in the same field as I, where you have to garner a certain number of work HOURS in order to be licensed), and his last months of college/first months of a career are not going to be as smooth as they would have been if they had just used a damn condom!

I feel stalker-y because I quote you alot (LOL), but we are *here* on this.

I have met people who are IN COLLEGE and pregnant, and people say "well you're an adult, it's not like you're 15" but it really IS still a big deal because you're not in your career yet and things are still going to be difficult.

BTW: Are you in the architecture field?

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

This may sound racist and classist and I'll just take the heat, but I suspect that for the most part rates are steady for different demographic and economic groups across state lines. Some states are just blessed with more diverse populations that others. ETA: looking at more data, I've got to say, I'm probably wrong. I can't really tell though because for some states, I think the economic situation may explain a lot and I don't have data for that. The south must just be that much more fertile.

ETA:http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2006/09/12/USTPstats.pdf
It's from 2006.
This has more info, even of the type that DSTren notes.

"Fifty percent or more of teenage pregnancies end in abortion in New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia."

There's nothing racist or classist about the bolded statement.

Structurally: The South has a higher concentration of people from lower socioeconomic status and racial and ethnic minorities (which is correlated with lower socioeconomic status). As there is a "Bible Belt" there is also a "poverty belt" and a "black and brown belt."

Culturally: The rest can be explained through the lack of sex (and overall) education, the cultural acceptness of (premarital sex and) single motherhood in many communities, and as you mentioned the abortion-birth ratio. Perhaps abortion-birth ratio won't explain that much of the variation in teen births since some of the states may have significant teen abortions and births.

The above structural and cultural effects were long believed to be buffered by religiosity, traditionalism and "morality." Unfortunately, generally speaking, norms have changed and traditional social ties have declined.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

There's nothing racist or classist about the bolded statement.

Structurally: The South has a higher concentration of people from lower socioeconomic status and racial and ethnic minorities (which is correlated with lower socioeconomic status). As there is a "Bible Belt" there is also a "poverty belt" and a "black and brown belt."

Culturally: The rest can be explained through the lack of sex (and overall) education, the cultural acceptness of (premarital sex and) single motherhood in many communities, and as you mentioned the abortion-birth ratio. Perhaps abortion-birth ratio won't explain that much of the variation in teen births since some of the states may have significant teen abortions and births.

The above structural and cultural effects were long believed to be buffered by religiosity, traditionalism and "morality." Unfortunately, generally speaking, norms have changed and traditional social ties have declined.

There's always a risk of being accused of having said, "well minorities are responsible for/participate in all of society's ills at a disproportionate rate" and that's what I was thinking might happen. You've accurately stated what I was thinking in your "structurally" and "culturally" paragraphs.

[SWTXBelle]

I'd like to know the percentage of teen mothers who give the baby up for adoption vs. those who decide to keep him/her.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

There's always a risk of being accused of having said, "well minorities are responsible for/participate in all of society's ills at a disproportionate rate" and that's what I was thinking might happen. You've accurately stated what I was thinking in your "structurally" and "culturally" paragraphs.

It is also the case that certain racial and ethnic groups are disproportionately represented in forms of crime and deviance. In this instance, being represented in rates of teen pregnancy, out of wedlock births, and single motherhood.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

I have met people who are IN COLLEGE and pregnant, and people say "well you're an adult, it's not like you're 15" but it really IS still a big deal because you're not in your career yet and things are still going to be difficult.

BTW: Are you in the architecture field?

I am in that field, and so is my friend...right before she announced her pregnancy, we started studying for the exams that you have to take in order to be licensed. It's a pretty drawn-out affair, and you have to devote a lot of time to do it. Hell, I barely have enough time to study, and it's just me, and my only real impediment to studying is my hollow leg. I just feel really bad for her in that regard, since it's going to be a while until she gets to take them, which is going to hold her back a little.

Oh well, best thing I can do is be a friend, and maybe a babysitter. We'll see.

[OneTimeSBX]

Originally Posted by aephi alum

I would have had to carry the pregnancy to term and then either place the child for adoption or wave bye-bye to a college education and a career.

not true at all...

i have had several classmates who had children at 14-16. (i live in richmond, what can i say?) ALL of them have gone to college, gotten married, and had a career. now, some states have programs that allow these mothers to take their kids to high school with them, and ours was a test school for that program. maybe thats why they succeeded, and maybe the lack of that program is why a lot of girls dont have the chance to succeed, but by no means is a baby at 15 a definate college/career killer...