CDC: California Teen Birth Rate Hits All-Time Low

By TANYA SNYDER (Patch Staff)

Fewer California babies are having babies, according to a study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday. The teen birth rate in California has fallen more than 43 percent since 2006, with the most dramatic drop among Hispanic teens, who have cut their teen birth rates almost in half over the last decade.

Racial and economic disparities still remain. Black and Hispanic teens are still twice as likely as white teens to have babies, and in some states, up to three times as likely.

Bill Albert, a spokesman for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, credits three main factors with the drop in teen births:

MTV

Millions of teens watch MTV’s shows 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom and see them as a cautionary tale. Economists have found that up to one-third of the decline in teen births over an 18-month period could be attributed to 16 and Pregnant alone.

Low-maintenance birth control

Teen use of IUDs and implant forms of birth control has increased seven-fold, though experts say it’s still far too low. Far more teens could be taking advantage of these easy, nearly foolproof methods of contraception.

Peer pressure

Teens are likely to do what they think their peers are doing — whether that’s having sex, practicing safe sex, or getting pregnant. Albert says a “virtuous cycle” has emerged that’s keeping teen birth rates down.

Albert says evidence-based (as opposed to abstinence-based) sex education has had an impact too, including the Obama administration’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program.

Poverty and teen pregnancy have historically been linked, and the CDC report emphasizes that “higher unemployment and lower income and education are more common in communities with the highest teen birth rates, regardless of race.” But poverty has been rising in the years that teen births have been declining. So although teens living in poverty are still more likely to get pregnant than their more well-off peers, they’re still less likely to get pregnant than they used to be.

The CDC report specifically deals with teen births, but teen pregnancy is way down too, as are teen abortion rates.

Click here to see how teen birth rates have changed in California.