U.S. teen birthrate hits new low amid overall drop

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - The U.S. teen birthrate dropped to its lowest level in the seven decades government researchers have been tracking it, government researchers said on Tuesday.

Babies born to American teens aged 15 to 19 fell 6 percent to a record 39.1 births per 1,000, according to preliminary numbers released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The decline cut across racial and ethnic lines, as birth rates for younger and older teens and for Hispanic, white, black, American Indian or Alaska Native and Asian or Pacific Islander teenagers all hit historic lows in 2009.

The team at the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, which is based on nearly 100 percent of birth records collected in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories, also showed drops in the overall fertility rate -- the average number of births that a group of women would have over their lifetimes -- and the total number of U.S. births.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BK6EI20101221

[hlthe2b]

1. except in the Palin family, apparently (given current rumours)

[texastoast]

2. Except in Texas

We like our "abstinence" here.

:crazy:

[AlbertCat]

3. Because who wants to raise a child in this country these days?

:shrug:

[COLGATE4]

4. Must be all that 'abstinence only' education is paying off

:sarcasm:

[Downwinder]

10. Might be due to taking pedophiles out of the gene pool.

[bitchkitty]

5. It's isn't because they're abstinent.

There is a drop in the overall fertility rate, according to the article.

[RZM]

6. Is this going to jeopardize the next season of 'Teen Mom?' n/t

[roamer65]

7. The economy is the main reason.

People cannot afford the children.

[Delphinus]

8. I'm not

so sure that thought would work for the 15-19 age group. I think when girls get pregnant at that age, it's generally unplanned.

But overall I agree with you - people can't afford to have children right now.

[Ter]

11. Then why are some of the poorest countries over-populated?

I think the opposite. When you can't afford to do anything else, you have sex. I have relative that were dirt poor in the 30's when they were born, and had a family of 12 kids.

[Xithras]

12. Teen's rarely think in economic terms.

Teen pregnancy is typically the result of irresponsible sex or is the result of an attempt to "grow up" quickly (some teens think they'll be seen as an adult if they have a kid).

Take it from someone who was a teen parent. "Affording" the kid wasn't even a consideration until WELL into the pregnancy (it was sort of an Oh Shit moment when my parents said, "Hey, it's your kid...we're NOT raising it. Have you looked at the price of diapers yet?"

[pettypace]

9. Racial breakdown of births

via the full PDF report
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr59/nvsr59_03.pdf

(Page 19)
Overall births (all ages)

White - 2.2 million
Hispn - 1 million
Black - 600 thousand


Percent of births to unmarried women (all ages)

Black - 72.8 %
Hispn - 53.2 %
White - 29.0 %


Birth rate

Hispn - 20.6
Black - 15.8
White - 11.0

(page 20-21)
teenage births (ages 10-17)

Hispn - 50,000
White - 40,000
Black - 33,000

3 girls under the age of 15 had their third child in 2009. One girl had her FOURTH! :wow:

[eppur_se_muova]

13. So do the Repugs let Obama take credit for this?

Or acknowledge they're the ones responsible for breaking the economy, causing this to happen?

[Vogon_Glory]

14. I'd Say The Drop For Teen Births Was Cause For Rejoicing, But

I'd say that the drop in the teen-age birth rate was cause for rejoicing, but I doubt right-wingers would either understand why the rates drop or think about the implications. The 'family values' idjits would continue to pitch fits about all the hanky-panky still going on and would try to restrict or criminalize teen access to birth control to punish teenagers for having sex (unwanted pregnancies? sexually transmitted diseases? That's Gawd's punishment for sin!). Other reactionaries would be pitching fits because the drop in the fertility rate would jeopardize 'the growth of Amurrica' or because the drop in teenage birth rates would restrict the numbers of suitably-white babies available for adoption.

The right-wing whack jobs who spent decades screaming about teen-aged pregnancies and the purported link to the 'welfare state' (such as it used to be) will doubtlessly be off somewhere taking a powder, or will deliberately change the subject if the discussion ever came up.

Lying, stinking, hypocrites!

:grr: