LANSING (WKZO-AM) — Teen birth rates have dropped significantly in the last 20 years across the country, throughout Michigan and in west Michigan, but the Michigan League for Public Policy says, despite the declines, the state still has rates that are among the highest of any industrialized place.
The group also says significant disparities persist between communities with ethnic and economic differences.
The teen birth numbers have been dropping for the last two decades, which saw an 18 percent decline statewide, a 15 percent drop in Kalamazoo and a 20 percent drop in Battle Creek.
Bill Albert with the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy says the declines are due to sex education, public policy and wiser teens.
“More teens are delaying sex, and those that are having sex are using contraception a bit more consistently and carefully,” Albert said.
But the League also says there’s still a lot that can be achieved. American teens are more than twice as likely to have an unplanned baby as those in Canada, four times more likely than teens in Germany or Norway and almost 10 times more likely than teens in Switzerland.
– John McNeill
