ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, June 25, 1996                 TAG: 9606250059
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: C-5  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON

BIRTH RATE DIPS FOR U.S. TEENS

The teen birth rate declined in 1994 for the third straight year, the government reported Monday.

The birth rate for 15- to 19-year-olds dropped from 59.6 births per 1,000 in 1993 to 58.9 per 1,000 in 1994, the most recent year for which statistics are available.

``This is another piece of good news in the battle against teen pregnancy, but we still have a long way to go,'' said Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala.

Despite the decline, the 1994 rate was still higher than in any year during the period from 1974 to 1989, said the report by the National Center for Health Statistics, an arm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

- Associated Press

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