Teen Pregnancy Rate Decreased


CNN reports that teen pregnancy is at the lowest rate that it has been at in two decades – which may seem incredible when there are all sorts of television shows on MTV that seem to be glorifying the act of teenage pregnancy.

The article is researched and written by the well-known and respected Sanjay Gupta who uses statistics found from the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention:

“In 2009, around 410,000 teenage girls, ages 15 to 19, gave birth in the United States. That’s a 37 percent decrease from the teen birth rate in1991. Then, 61.8 births per every 1,000 females was a teen pregnancy. The rate has now dropped to 39.1 births per 1,000 women. Yet according to the United Nations, the rate of teen pregnancy in the United States is nearly nine times higher than in the majority of other developed nations.”

The article then goes to state a fact that seems quite shocking:

“Combined, all teen pregnancies cost taxpayers about $9 billion a year.”

WHAT? That statement alone should be enough to make parents educate their teens on safe sex and do whatever it takes to keep them from getting pregnant. Wow.

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