Fewer teens pregnant, but it's not because they're having less sex
Should we pay teens to not get pregnant? 04:27
Story highlights
- Teen pregnancy numbers are down, but they're having the same amount of sex
- Researchers say contraceptive use is behind 36% drop in pregnancy
Teen
pregnancy is way down. And a study suggests that the reason is
increased, and increasingly effective, use of contraceptives.
From
2007 to 2013, births to teens age 15 to 19 dropped by 36 percent;
pregnancies fell by 25 percent from 2007 to 2011, according to federal data (PDF).
But
that wasn't because teens were shunning sex. The amount of sex being
had by teenagers during that time period was largely unchanged, says the study
(PDF), which was published online in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
And it wasn't because they were having more abortions. Abortion has been declining among all age groups, and particularly among teenagers.
Rather,
the researchers from the Guttmacher Institute and Columbia University
found that "improvement in contraceptive use" accounted for the entire
reduced risk of pregnancy over the five-year period.
"By
definition, if teens are having the same amount of sex but getting
pregnant less often, it's because of contraception," said Laura
Lindberg, the study's lead author and a Guttmacher researcher.
No
single contraceptive method stood out as singularly effective, said the
researchers. Instead, they found that teens were using contraceptives
more often, combining methods more often, and using more effective
methods, such as the birth control pill, IUDs and implants.
Also,
the use of any contraceptive at all makes a big difference, said
Lindberg. "If a teen uses no method they have an 85 percent chance of
getting pregnant [within a year]. Using anything is way more effective
than that 85 percent risk."
The
downturn in teen births actually dates back to the early 1990s, the
authors say, with the rate dropping by 57 percent between 1991 and 2013.
The increase in contraceptive use dates to the mid-1990s, with the use
of any contraceptive at the most recent sexual encounter rising from 66
to 86 percent from 1995 to 2012.
Valerie
Huber, who advocates for programs that urge teens to wait to have sex
rather than provide information about contraception, says the study is
biased toward birth control.
"As
public health experts and policymakers, we must normalize sexual delay
more than we normalize teen sex, even with contraception," said a
statement from Huber, president and CEO of Ascend, a group that promotes abstinence education. "We believe youth deserve the best opportunity for a healthy future."
More recent policy changes could help drop the teen pregnancy rate even more. One is the Affordable Care Act requirement that boosted insurance coverage for contraception, starting in 2012. The other is the 2014 recommendation
from the American Academy of Pediatrics that sexually active teenagers
be offered "long-acting reversible contraception" methods such as
implants and intrauterine devices, which are highly effective and do not
require any additional action, such as remembering to take a daily
pill.
But Lindberg noted that just
as for older women, teens should be offered a full choice of
contraceptives. "In the end, the best method for anyone is one that they
are willing and able to use."
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