Blue States New Jersey & New York have highest teen abortion rate Dems are probably proud of it.
http://womensissues.about.com/od/datingandsex/a/TeenAbortRates.htm On Jan 9, 9:14 am, "damn I hate grits !" <[email protected]> wrote: > Abstinence-promoting Southern states have highest teen birth rate, > according to > CDChttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090107/ap_on_he_me/med_teen_births;_ylt=... > … ATLANTA – Mississippi now has the nation's highest teen birth > rate, > displacing Texas and New Mexico for that lamentable title, a new > federal report says. Mississippi's rate was more than 60 percent > higher than the national average in 2006, according to new state > statistics released Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control > and Prevention. The teen birth rate for that year in Texas and New > Mexico was more than 50 percent higher. > > The three states have large proportions of black and Hispanic > teenagers — groups that traditionally have higher birth rates, > experts > noted. > > The lowest teen birth rates continue to be in New England, where > three > states have rates at roughly half the national average, which is 42 > births per 1,000 teen women. > > It's not clear why Mississippi, with 68 births per 1,000, surged into > first place. The state's one-year increase of nearly 1,000 teen > births > could be a statistical blip, said Ron Cossman, a Mississippi State > University researcher who focuses on children's health statistics. > > The New Mexico rate was 64 per 1,000; Texas was 63. New Hampshire, > with a rate of 19 per 1,000, was the nation's lowest. > > More than a year ago, a preliminary report on the 2006 data revealed > that the U.S. teen birth rate had risen for the first time in about > 15 > years. But the new numbers provide the first state-by-state > breakdown. > > The new report is based on a review of all the birth certificates in > 2006. Significant increases in teen birth rates were noted in 26 > states. > > "It's pretty much across the board" nationally, said Brady Hamilton, > a > CDC statistician who worked on the report. > > About 435,000 of the nation's 4.3 million births in 2006 were to > mothers ages 15 through 19. That was about 21,000 more teen births > than in 2005. > > Numerically, the largest increases were in the states with the > largest > populations. California, Texas and Florida together generated almost > 30 percent of the nation's extra teen births in 2006. > experts have blamed the national increase on increased federal > funding for abstinence-only health education that does not teach > teens > how to use condoms and other contraception. They said that would > explain why teen birth rate increases have been detected across much > of the country and not just in a few spots. > Other factors include the escalating cost of some types of birth > control and their unavailability in some communities, said Stephanie > Birch, who directs maternal and child health programs for the Alaska > Department of Health and Social Services. > > Glowing media portrayals of celebrity pregnancies don't help, either, > she said. "They make it out to be very glamorous," said Birch, who > cited a calculation by Alaska officials that teen births were up 6 > percent in that state in 2006. > > A variety of factors influence teen birth rates, including culture, > poverty and racial demographics. For those and other reasons, kids in > mostly white New England likely would delay child birth, said David > Landry, a researcher at the Guttmacher Institute, a New York-based > organization which supports abortion rights and gathers research on > sexual and reproductive health. > > "It's more costly for youth in the Northeast to have a teen birth > than > for youth in the South, in terms of opportunities they'll miss," he > said. > > ___ > > On the Net: > > CDC report:http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr57/nvsr57_07.pdf --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
