The rate of infant births to teenage mothers in the U.S. has been on the decline since 2009. The CDC reports that in 2009, the number of births to teenage mothers was 409,840 — a birth rate of 39.1 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19. The latest United Nations Human Development Report shows that the teen birth rates in India are quite similar to those in the U.S. However, as Tripti Lahiri reports, “because of India’s huge population, the country probably has, in absolute numbers, more teen mothers than almost anywhere else in the world — a rough calculation would put the figure at about five million”.
Katherine Hobson, a blogger from the Wall Street Journal, reports that although teen birth rates in the U.S. have been been on the decline, they are still higher than in other developed countries. This disparity among teenagers in the United States and teens in other Western industrialized countries is attributed to differences in contraceptive use. According to Heather Boonstra (2002), “sexually active teens in the United States are less likely to use any contraceptive method and especially less likely to use highly effective hormonal methods, primarily the pill, than their peers in other countries” (p. 3). Boonstra’s findings have been confirmed by the results from the CDC’s survey amongst 9,844 mothers aged 15 to 19 in 19 states over the course of five years which was conducted to assess if they were using any form of birth control at the time of conception.
Data from the CDC’s survey shows that about half of teen moms who got pregnant unintentionally weren’t using any form of birth control at the time of conception. The following statistics provide an explanation as to why these adolescent women were not using any form of contraception:
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31% said they didn’t think they could get pregnant at the time
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24% said their partner didn’t want to use birth control” for personal reasons
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22% said that they were ambivalent towards pregnancy
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13% said it was hard to access contraceptives. Difficulty in accessing contraceptives includes inability to pay.
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9% said they experienced side effects from contraceptives they had taken before
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8% said they believed either they or a partner was sterile
Furthermore, information gathered by the CDC’s survey demonstrates that half the teen moms were using birth control when they unintentionally got pregnant. Inconsistent or mis-use of their choice contraception resulted in pregnancy. The following statistics provide insight as to which forms of contraception adolescent women were utilizing:
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21% were using a highly effective method, including sterilization, IUD, the birth control pill, and a hormonal injection, patch or ring
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24% were using condoms, considered to be moderately effective
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5% used methods deemed the least effective, including the diaphragm, sponge, cervical cap, rhythm method and withdrawal
As expressed by the CDC’s report, contraceptive use among sexually active teens can be improved by providing appropriate access to contraception and encouraging consistent use of more effective contraceptives. In order to advance the current downward trend in teen pregnancy, change must be implemented, practiced, and maintained on multiple levels. The government, health care providers, communities, parents, guardians and caregivers, and teens all play a distinct role in preventing teen pregnancy from occurring in the United States.
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