<story><title>Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50% decline among Hispanics and blacks</title><url>https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/04/28/teen-birth-rate-hits-all-time-low-led-by-50-percent-decline-among-hispanics-and-blacks/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_teen-births-115pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Aelinsaar</author><text>&amp;quot;The first is the most important and may be obvious: Today&amp;#x27;s teens enjoy better access to contraception and more convenient contraception than their predecessors, and more of them are taking advantage of innovations like long-acting injectable and implantable methods that can last years over a daily birth control pill. But the second cause is something that goes against the conventional wisdom. It&amp;#x27;s that teens -- despite their portrayal in popular TV and movies as uninhibited and acting only on hormones -- are having less sex.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#x27;s interesting, but lets just take a long look at the FIRST cause, which has come at the cost of endless political fights and only exists through that constant fighting. There are still a LOT of people who think that access to birth control is the &lt;i&gt;problem&lt;/i&gt;.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>lambdaphagy</author><text>You&amp;#x27;ll have better arguments if you understand why your opponents hold the views they do than if you just stare at them incredulously.&lt;p&gt;Why would anyone be skeptical of contraception?  Perhaps because the normalization of contraception has come at the same time as a dramatic increase in single motherhood, from single digits in 1950 to about half of all children today [0].  If we are tempted to think that single motherhood is a problem of access to technology, it is sobering to think that we are worse at it than medieval peasants.&lt;p&gt;At the same time, total fertility has fallen to sub-replacement rates in every Western country [1]. This creates top-heavy societies that are dependent for young workers upon cultures that don&amp;#x27;t share our enlightened attitudes.&lt;p&gt;Is it certain that both of these trends can be attributed wholly to contraception?  No.  Do they suggest that Western cultures have adopted attitudes towards sex and reproduction that are proving incompatible with their own continued existence?  Well...&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;wonk&amp;#x2F;wp&amp;#x2F;2014&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;18&amp;#x2F;the-unbelievable-rise-of-single-motherhood-in-america-over-the-last-50-years&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;wonk&amp;#x2F;wp&amp;#x2F;2014&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;18&amp;#x2F;the-u...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Sub-replacement_fertility&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Sub-replacement_fertility&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50% decline among Hispanics and blacks</title><url>https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/04/28/teen-birth-rate-hits-all-time-low-led-by-50-percent-decline-among-hispanics-and-blacks/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_teen-births-115pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Aelinsaar</author><text>&amp;quot;The first is the most important and may be obvious: Today&amp;#x27;s teens enjoy better access to contraception and more convenient contraception than their predecessors, and more of them are taking advantage of innovations like long-acting injectable and implantable methods that can last years over a daily birth control pill. But the second cause is something that goes against the conventional wisdom. It&amp;#x27;s that teens -- despite their portrayal in popular TV and movies as uninhibited and acting only on hormones -- are having less sex.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#x27;s interesting, but lets just take a long look at the FIRST cause, which has come at the cost of endless political fights and only exists through that constant fighting. There are still a LOT of people who think that access to birth control is the &lt;i&gt;problem&lt;/i&gt;.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>seizethecheese</author><text>This runs counter to the belief that many have that when given higher access to contraceptives, teens will have more sex. Another knock against abstinence-only sex ed!</text></comment>