Teen Pregnancy Rates on the Rise

The CDC National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) reported yesterday that the U.S. teen birth rate for 2006 rose for the first time since 1991. Between 2005 and 2006 the birth rate went up 3% for teenage girls between the ages of 15-19. The 2006 rate showed 41.9 births per 1,000. This follows 14 years of steady decline from the 1991 all-time high (61.8 births per 1,000).

Check out the press release from NCHS or read the entire 18-page report, "Births: Preliminary Data for 2006."

Want more information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on teen pregnancy and sexual behavior? Check out these sites:

• Adolescent Reproductive Health: Teen Pregnancy
• Healthy Youth! Sexual Risk Behaviors
• National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS): 1991-2005, Trends in the Prevalence of Sexual Behaviors
  
• School Health Policies and Programs Study: Pregnancy Prevention
  

Read "Teen Birth Rate Rises in U.S., Reversing a 14-Year Decline" from the Washington Post and "First Rise in U.S. Teen Births Since '91" from FOX News.

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