Teenage Birth Rate Sees First Rise Since 1990s

Teenage Birth Rate Sees First Rise Since 1990s
photo by: Fabio Goveia
The Nemours Foundation

After nearly 15 years of fewer teens having babies, the number of births by teen moms (ages 15 to 19) went up 3% in 2006 — the first increase since 1991, says a new government report.

And 39% of all births in 2006 were from unmarried mothers — an all-time high, according to the report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report does boast a bit of good news on the teen pregnancy front — births by girls 14 and under dropped, even if only ever so slightly (1/10th of a percent). The findings also show that three times more 18- and 19-year-olds are giving birth than girls 15 to 17.

Why are more kids having kids of their own now versus almost 15 years ago? Ask different experts and they're likely to give different reasons. But one commonly accepted reason is that many teens feared AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) during the 1990s, which scared more of them into using condoms, choosing fewer partners, or opting out of sex altogether. But as AIDS publicity diminished and treatments advanced, teens became less spooked about the dimming prospect of dying from being sexuality active.

Now, many teens today are deciding to have sex — often unprotected — as nearly 1 million teenage girls in the United States give birth every year. And although AIDS gets less media attention than it did in decades past, an estimated 42 million people worldwide are still living with AIDS or HIV (human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS), with more than 3 million dying every year from AIDS-related illnesses.

And human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is also a serious, though relatively new, concern. It's the leading cause of cervical cancer and genital warts, affecting more than half of sexually active people at some point in their lives — about 6.2 million each year.

View Full Article

Add your own comment

Ask a Question

Have questions about this article or topic? Ask
Ask
150 Characters allowed

Today on Education.com