KEY POINTS:
In a troubling reversal, America's teen birth rate rose for the first time in 15 years, surprising Government health officials and reviving the bitter debate about abstinence-only sex education.
The birth rate had been dropping since its peak in 1991, although the decline had slowed in recent years. Yesterday, Government statisticians said it rose 3 per cent from 2005 to 2006.
The reason for the increase is not clear, and federal health officials said it might be a one-year statistical blip, not the beginning of a new upward trend.
However, some experts said they have been expecting a jump. They blamed it on increased federal funding for abstinence-only health education that does not teach teens how to use condoms and other contraception.
Some key sexually transmitted disease rates have been rising, including syphilis, gonorrhoea and chlamydia. The rising teen pregnancy rate is part of the same phenomenon, said Dr Carol Hogue, an Emory University professor of maternal and child health.
At the same time, some research suggests teens are using condoms far more often than they did 15 years ago.
The new teen birth numbers are based on the 15-19 age group of women, which accounted for most of the 440,000 births to teens in 2006. The rate rose to nearly 42 births per 1000 in that group, up from 40.5 in 2005. That translates to an extra 20,000 births to teen mothers.
In 1991, the peak year for teen births, there were nearly 62 births per 1000.
The new report is based on a review of more than 99 per cent of the birth certificates from last year by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Opponents of abstinence-based programmes seized on the data as evidence of wrong-headed Government policy. "Congress needs to stop knee-jerk approving abstinence-only funding when it's clear it's not working," said Democratic US Representative Diana DeGette, who is pushing for more comprehensive sex education.
The new report offers a state-by-state breakdown of birth rates overall. Many of those with the highest birth rates teach abstinence instead of comprehensive sex education, according to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. It said research has concluded that abstinence-only programmes do not cause a decrease in teenage sexual activity.
"In the last decade, more than US$1 billion ($1.3 billion) has been wasted on abstinence-only programmes," said its president Cecile Richards.
Decreased condom use and increased sexual activity are two likely explanations for the higher teen birth rate.
But not all data supports those theories, said John Santelli, a professor of population and family health at Columbia University. A Government survey of high school students found the percentage of those who said they used a condom the last time they had sex rose to 63 per cent in 2005, up from 46 per cent in 1991.
Contraceptive-focused sex education is still common, and the new teen birth numbers reflect it is failing, argued Moira Gaul of the Family Research Council, a conservative advocacy organisation in Washington.
BIRTH, FERTILITY TRENDS CONTINUE
UNWED MOTHERS: Births to unwed mothers reached an all-time high last year, but that is part of a continuing upward trend and was expected. Women in their 20s and 30s represent the largest proportion, with teens accounting for fewer than a quarter, said Stephanie Ventura, head of the CDC's reproductive statistics branch. About 30 years ago, more than half of unwed mothers were teenagers.
FERTILITY: The US fertility rate is at the highest level since 1971, at 2.1 children - an increase of 2 per cent from 2005 to 2006. Total births rose 3 per cent to nearly 4.3 million last year.
CAESAREANS: The rate of caesarean section deliveries also rose 3 per cent, setting a new record of 31 per cent of all births. Health officials say the rate, which has risen by about half since 1996, is higher than is medically necessary. The high C-section rate is believed to at least partly explain why rates of pre-term and low-weight births also rose last year.
- AP
