 in California increased 1.6% between 2005 and 2006:
The teen birthrate in California also saw a 1.6% increase in 2006 to 37.8 births per 1,000 teenage girls, according to state figures. Dr. Bonnie Sorensen of the California Department of Public Health said the state accepts no federal money for abstinence-only education.
But I thought the rise in the rate was due solely to abstinence-only education?
Another inconvenient truth to the abstinence-only crowd: Even after the push for more comprehensive abstinence-only education started in 1996, teen birth rates continued to decline in *all* states. This 2002 CDC report, which covers 1991-2000, shows those stats. And remember, all states but California were participating in Title V abstinence-only funding when it started in 1996.
Page 8 of this CDC report on 2002 data states (emphasis added):
Birth rates for teenagers by State are shown for 2002 in tables B and 10. In 2002 State-specific birth rates per 1,000 women aged 15â€“19 years ranged from 20.0 (New Hampshire) to 64.7 (Mississippi). The highest rate reported for 2002 was for the District of Columbia, 69.1. Between 2001 and 2002 teenage birth rates declined in 45 States with significant decreases in 23 States, Puerto Rico, and the Northern Marianas. Other changes between 2001 and 2002 were not statistically significant. Since 1991 teenage birth rates have declined significantly in all States, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Birth rates for teenagers declined by 30 percent or more in 19 States, the District of Columbia, and Guam.
Data for 2004 shows a still declining national birth rate amongst teens, although it’s more modest than in previous years. We saw another national decline in the teen birth rate in 2005, which the CDC described as the “lowest level ever.” (BTW, I couldn’t get the 2003 stats document to open for some reason)
Isn’t it funny how during the first years of the Bush administration everytime we heard about declining birth rates amongst teens that it was in spite of the Bush administration’s (and the prior Republican Congress’) emphasis on abstinence only education? Yet, when the rates go up in 2006, for the first time since 1991, we now learn that it’s because of it?
This new report by the CDC is a mixed bag of news for both sides of the debate about sex ed. About the only thing this study conclusively proves, though, is that the problems adult liberals have with basic reading comprehension are only getting worse.