Teen pregnancy, abortion rates rise
during Bush Administration


By Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY

The teen pregnancy rate in the USA rose 3% in 2006, the first increase
in more than a decade, according to data out today. The data also show
higher rates of births and abortions among girls 15-19.

The numbers, calculated by the Guttmacher Institute, a non-profit group
that studies reproductive and sexual health, show a clear reversal from
the downward trend that began in the 1990s.

About 7% of teen girls got pregnant in 2006, a rate of 71.5 pregnancies
per 1,000 teens. That's up slightly from 69.5 in 2005, Guttmacher says.
In 1990, when rates peaked, about 12% got pregnant.

Just as the long-term declines in teen pregnancy were for all racial and
ethnic groups, the rise in 2006 was for all demographics, the report shows.

***Guttmacher and others suggest the increase is related to a focus on
abstinence-only sex education programs under the Bush administration.***

Funding for abstinence doubled from 2000 to 2003, to $120 million. By
2008, funding was at $176 million. Guttmacher is an outspoken opponent
of abstinence-only education.

"The focus on abstinence and the shifts in pregnancy occurred about the
same time," says Guttmacher's Lawrence Finer.

"The issue here is clearly that we have a lot of teenagers who are
having sex, but they aren't careful enough at contraception to avoid
pregnancy," says Sarah Brown, executive director of the nonprofit
National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, who has seen
Guttmacher's numbers.

Some speculated a rise in teen birth rates reported last year was a
result of fewer abortions, but the data show otherwise. "There isn't
enough evidence to say there's a causal relationship, but pregnancies
overall are increasing, regardless of whether they're carried to term or
not," Finer says.

Those on the other side cry foul. "To me, it appears to be another
opportunity to throw a barb at abstinence education," says Valerie Huber
of the National Abstinence Education Association. She says that only a
quarter of federal funding for teen sexuality programs went to
abstinence in 2008.

In 2006, two-thirds of all teen pregnancies were to ages 18-19; data do
not reflect marital status.

Guttmacher's analysis shows a 4% increase in the teen birth rate and a
1% rise in abortion rates, based on federal statistics and Guttmacher's
abortion research. The National Center for Health Statistics will
release its pregnancy rate data later this year.

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Abstinence Education...a right-wing wet dream...that leads to pregnancy.