The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a pair of reports Thursday showing that among teens, birth rates have dropped over the last year — but sexually transmitted disease rates are increasing.
According to the reports, babies born to teen moms dropped 9 percent in 2010 — the biggest single-year decline since 1946-47. And over the last two years, teen birth rates have dropped 15 percent.
Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association, said that's entirely surprising, since the CDC also reported recently that nearly 75 percent of kids between the ages of 15 and 17 are remaining sexually abstinent.
But the other 25 percent are more at risk than ever for sexually transmitted infections. According to the other report, chlamydia rates have increased 24 percent since 2006 — the highest they've been in 20 years. And most of the cases are found among teenage African-American girls.
"The current sex ed policy as created by the Obama administration is almost solely focused on teen pregnancy prevention. So when they release these twin reports, but only one gets the headlines, it supposedly shows their teen pregnancy programs are successful," Huber said. "It's great that birth rates are down, but it's when teen sexual activity rates drop that we'll get real prevention. This shows me that the current policy is not taking care of the problem."
Contact: Karla Dial
Source: CitizenLink
