WASHINGTON — While teen births remain a national concern, the rate at which young people are having babies varies significantly from state to state, according to a new federal report.
The rate in 2008 ranged from a low of 19.8 per 1,000 girls ages 15-19 in New Hampshire to a high of 61.8 in Arkansas, according to the report from the National Center for Health Statistics. Generally, the rates were highest in states across the South and lowest in the Northeast and upper Midwest.
The rate also varied sharply by race. In 2007, which is the year for which the center had the most up-to-date breakdowns by race, the birth rate among Latino teens was 81.8 per 1,000, which is nearly triple the rate for white teens. Among blacks, the rate was 64.2.
But the rates varied widely among states by race. For example, the rates ranged from 4.3 among white teens in Washington, D.C., to 54.8 among whites in Mississippi. Among blacks, it ranged from 17.4 in Hawaii to 95.1 in Wisconsin. For Latinos, it ranged from 31.1 in Maine to 188.3 in Alabama.
In Colorado, the overall rate, 42.5 births per 1,000, is slightly above the national average and near the middle of the pack of surrounding states: Utah registered a 35.1 measure, Nebraska 36.5, Kansas 45.6, Wyoming 49.2 and New Mexico 64.1
The differences probably are due to a host of reasons, including differences in such socioeconomic factors as education and income as well as sexual activity and contraceptive use and attitudes toward pregnancy and childbearing.
Teen births have been the subject of intense concern and debate. After declining for decades, the teen birth rate increased between 2005 and 2007. Some critics blamed the rise on increased federal and state support for sex education programs that focus on encouraging abstinence until marriage. Others blamed increased exposure of teens to sexual imagery in movies and television.
The Obama administration recently launched a new teen pregnancy prevention program that is providing funding to a mix of programs, including those that focus on contraception and some that emphasize abstinence.
