Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 22, 1995 TAG: 9509220089
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ATLANTA LENGTH: Medium
Stephanie Ventura, a statistician at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the reasons for the drop aren't clear, but she speculated that more teen-agers are using condoms because of the risk of AIDS.
The birth rate among American teen-agers dropped 2 percent in 1993, the most recent year examined by the CDC. The rate fell 2 percent in 1992.
The figures mark a reversal of the sharp increases in the late 1980s, when the birth rate among teens jumped 5 percent or more a year.
``What's happened is noteworthy and encouraging,'' said Ventura, a statistician with the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. But ``we can't be complacent'' because the teen-age population is growing.
For every 1,000 women ages 15 to 19 in 1993, 59.6 gave birth, down from 60.7 reported the previous year.
The drop actually occurred only among teens ages 18 to 19, whose rate declined to 92.1 births per 1,000 from 94.5 in 1992. For girls ages 15 to 17, the birth rate was unchanged at 37.8.
Ventura ruled out abortion as a factor because other studies have shown teen-age abortions are steadily declining as well. She suggested more girls may be insisting that their partners use condoms to protect them from AIDS.
The figures also show the overall birth rate for American women continued a long decline and hit its lowest point in 15 years - 15.5 per 1,000.
Of the 4.2 million births to women overall in 1993, more than 513,000 were to teens.
The CDC also reported that the rate at which teen-agers became pregnant dropped in most states in 1992, with only two of 41 states - Kansas and New York - reporting significant increases. Only 41 states and the District of Columbia provided age-specific information on pregnancy rates.
The 1992 rate in the nation's capital was the highest, 208.4. Rates among states ranged from a low of 53.7 per 1,000 girls in Wyoming to a high of 106.9 in Georgia.
The government cannot calculate a national teen pregnancy rate, which includes live births and abortions, because nine states keep no figures on abortions.
The CDC estimates that 10 percent of girls ages 15 to 19 - 835,000 teens - become pregnant each year.
\ TEEN PREGNANCY
Figures on teen-agers and pregnancy in the United States:
Teen birth rate: 59.6 per 1,000 women.
Overall birth rate: 15.5 per 1,000 women.
About 10 percent of girls age 15 to 19 become pregnant each year.
More than half a million babies are born to teen-agers each year.
- AP
Memo: ***CORRECTION***