Teen Birth Rate Drops

A T L A N T A, Aug. 9 -- Teenagers are having babies at the lowest rate in at least 60 years, and everyone is taking credit—from religious groups that push abstinence to advocates for contraceptives and sex education in schools.

Analysts from several viewpoints agreed Tuesday on this much:Teens are more terrified than ever of sexually transmitteddiseases, and they are putting off starting families to take jobsin the booming economy.

For every 1,000 girls ages 15 to 19, there were 49.6 births lastyear—the lowest level since the statistic was first recorded sixdecades ago, the National Center for Health Statistics said.

The rate dropped consistently throughout the 1990s, falling 20percent for the decade.

‘More Conservative’

“Teenagers frankly are more conservative sexually,” said BillAlbert, spokesman for the National Campaign to Prevent TeenPregnancy. “They realize that the risks in the 1990s were quite abit different than the risks their parents took in the ’60s and’70s.”

The drop was particularly sharp among girls ages 15 to 17, whoserate fell 6 percent from its level in 1998 to 28.7 births per1,000.

Births fell 2 percent among 18- to 19-year olds and 4 percentamong girls ages 10 to 14, said the statistics center, a divisionof the federal government’s Centers for Disease Control andPrevention.

Clinton: Encouraging Trends

The teen birth rate fell across racial lines, most dramaticallyamong black teens, whose rate dropped 38 percent from 1991 to 1999.

“These encouraging trends cut across those younger and olderteens, married and unmarried teens, all states and all racial andethnic groups,” President Clinton said in a statement.

Clinton used the study as an opportunity to urge Congress toapprove $25 million for what are being called “second-chancehomes,” where teen parents can live and get job counseling andlearn parenting skills.