Drop In Calif. Teen Births Shows Effectiveness Of State's 'Enlightened Approach' To Pregnancy Prevention, Editorial Says

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;  Pregnancy / Obstetrics;  Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 04 Mar 2010 - 5:00 PDT


California governors of the past two decades "deserve praise for funding a wide array of programs aimed at combating teen births," a Sacramento Bee editorial states. The editorial notes that California is "bucking a national trend" of rising teen births. The number of births to California teens ages 15 through 19 dropped to 35.2 per 1,000 teens in 2008, down from 37.1 births per 1,000 teens in 2007. The teen birth rate in California has been declining steadily since 1991, when there were 70.9 births per 1,000 teens, the editorial says. "Back then, California's rate also was significantly higher than the nation as a whole," it adds. Now, "[w]hile California's teen birth rate declines, the national rate rises," the editorial states. In 2007, the U.S. rate was 42.5 births per 1,000 teens, according to the editorial.

"California has taken an enlightened approach with programs including abstinence, counseling, contraceptives and state-funded abortions for unwanted pregnancies," the editorial continues. It notes that California is the only state to consistently reject federal money for abstinence-only sex education since 1997. Now, faced with a state budget crisis, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has called for cuts to Family PACT, a family planning program that "is credited with averting an estimated 300,000 pregnancies a year," according to the editorial.

The Schwarzenegger administration "would impose this cut only if the Obama administration fails to provide sufficient health care funds," the editorial says. It concludes, "Obama opposes the abstinence-only concept. The feds now need to take the next step by helping California's overall effort" (Sacramento Bee, 3/3).

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