WHAT ARE THE TRENDS?
Since the early 1990s, teenage pregnancy rates, birthrates and abortion rates have declined dramatically; pregnancy and abortion rates have reached their lowest points since they were first measured in the early 1970s, and birthrates are similar to those that prevailed between the mid-1970s and mid-1980s.8
The decreases in pregnancy and abortion rates have been especially steep. In 1986, some 107 pregnancies occurred per 1,000 women aged 15-19; by 1990, that rate had climbed 11% to 117 per 1,000. Within the next six years, however, the rate fell by a striking 17% to 97 pregnancies per 1,000 teenagers, 9% less than the 1986 rate.
The teenage birthrate followed a similar trend, although the recent decrease has been less rapid. From a level of 50 births per 1,000 women aged 15-19 in 1986, the rate rose rapidly to 62 per 1,000 in 1991, an increase of 24%. The next five years saw a turnaround, and in 1996, 54 births occurred per 1,000 teenage women; a rate still higher than that in 1986, but 12% lower than the peak reached in 1991.
A somewhat different pattern is seen in the teenage abortion rate, which varied little during the 1980s and then began a steady decline. By 1996, the rate was 29 abortions per 1,000 young women - 31% lower than teenagers' abortion rate a decade earlier.
- From the Alan Guttmacher Institute publication Why is Teenage Pregnancy Declining? The Roles of Abstinence, Sexual Activity and Contraceptive Use.
|
|