In an ideal world, no one has babies until they're in a stable, loving and committed relationship, their education completed and finances stable. So when unplanned, teen pregnancy numbers showed a spike in 2006, that was cause for alarm. But the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are showing heartening news. Between 2009 and 2010, the birth rate for women ages 15-19 dropped 9%, which put it at its lowest rate since World War II.
It's a drop that spans all ethnic backgrounds, but there were some variances from state to state. That 9% number is an average. In 16 states, the drop was 20-29%. In 31 others, it was closer to 8%. The only states that saw no change were Montana, North Dakota, and West Virginia.
Teen pregnancy rates in the United States are still vastly higher than in other countries, however - nearly 1.5 times that of England's and almost 10 times that of Switzerland, in 2009. And the impact of pregnancy on a teenager can be devastating to her education. The CDC said only half the nation's teen moms graduate from high school by the time they are in their 20s.
Eighteen and 19-year-olds - i.e., college age women - account for two-thirds of all those pregnancies. And according to one Virginia study, 24% of college women will become pregnant at some point during their college careers.
If you have a teenage daughter, you and she both need to know that young women who do not use any form of birth control and are sexually active have a 90% chance of becoming pregnant within a year.
Each year, nearly 19 million people will contract a sexually transmitted disease - 9 million of those new cases will be among young adults, ages 15-24. The human papillomavirus (HPV) accounts for half of those cases.
