US births to those aged 10 - 14 reaches lowest level since 1946

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the number of births among girls in this age group dropped 38 percent from 1994 to 2002 alone, even though the number of girls 10 to 14 climbed 16 percent during the same period. CDC researchers attributed the decline to sex education.

"The message is getting across to them. Teens are behaving more responsibly when it comes to sex," said Fay Menacker, at the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

The birth rate among girls this young has been declining since 1994, when 12,901 babies were born to mothers ages 10 to 14.

Comments

i think that teen pregnancy is a huge problem in the united states today.just the other day i heared about a twelve year old getting pregnant.That is ridiculus!
I think girls need to step back and realize that everything in a relationship relies on them.if you dont want to have sex..then say NO. if he cares it wont matter.

...it doesn't all rely on one person or on women. Please remember that around one out of every three or four women are raped in their lifetime, and the younger a woman is, statistically the more likely it is that sex in her life isn't sex she wants, but is forced on her, is part of abuse, or is coercion. You can say no all you want to someone raping you, but your no has no merit to that person.

By all means, we're all about encouraging everyone to ONLY say yes to sex when that is exactly what they want AND being sure that when it is what they want, that if pregnancy is not part of that, they learn how to access and use effective contraception. That also includes efforts to have male partners help in that arena, a lack of which has been a real problem...well, for all of history.

Too, the teen pregnancy rates here aren't actually far higher than those in plenty of other areas, and our rate of teen pregnancy has been steadily declining over the last 40 or 50 years, likely in large part because of both contraception AND because of more awareness about sexual abuse and assault as well as increased efforts when it comes to teaching girls assertiveness (and other skills in life so they don't feel like motherhood is their only option) and the consent of women per sex becoming more important to our culture.

Editor & Founder, Scarleteen: Sex Ed for the Real World
Author, S.E.X.: The All-You-Need-to-Know Progressive Sexuality Guide to Get You Through High School and Col