In the United States abortion rates have declined a great number and it is also being reflected in significantly lower abortion rates among teenagers. The report "U.S. Teenage Pregnancies Birth & Abortions, 2010: National & State Trends by Age, Race, & Ethnicty" shows declining pregnancy, birth, and abortion rates among teenagers of all ages, races, and ethnic groups in the United States. Efforts being made to ensure that teenagers are preventing unwanted pregnancies seems to be paying off, you can see this in the decline in births and pregnancies among teens in the past few years. During the year 1990 for every 1,000 teens 116.9 teens were becoming pregnant (ages 15-19) thus making 1990 the high in teen pregnancies. The teen birth rate dropped from 61.8 for every 1,000 teenagers in 1991 to 34.4 per 1,000 in 2010. During this time the teen abortion rate fell the most, from 43.5 abortions per 1,000 teens to 14.7 abortions per 1,000 teens in 2010. Texas, along with many other states have the lowest abortion rates among teenagers.
Breaking the Cycle of Teen Pregnancy
Breaking the cycle of teen pregnancy could be a major factor in the decline of abortions around the world. Before explaining the details of how to break the cycle of teen pregnancy below is a list of statistics of teenage pregnancies.
• more than 365,000 teenagers (15-19) gave birth in 2010
- 57,200 were second births
- 8,400 were third births
- 1,200 were fourth or higher births
• 91% of teen mothers used birth control but only 22% used the most effective types of birth control
How to reduce repeat teen births
• Talk to teen mothers about avoiding any other unplanned pregnancies
• Remind sexually active teens to use protection
• Tell teen mothers about support services that may help prevent in further pregnancies
• Warn teen mothers about the negative effects of the child's heart when having children so close together
I am happy to hear that teen birth rates are dropping and that so many are becoming informed on the effects of the consequences. I really like the approach you took to this topic. Great job!