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Colorado teen birthrate drops 40% with low-cost birth control

In 2010 alone, Colorado saved $42 million on health care costs associated with teen births, thanks to the program, according to a press release from the governor's office.
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and
The health department said that teen abortion rates during the study time period also decreased 35%.
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So...fewer pregnancies, fewer abortions, lower costs...

Coool.
 
Sounds like a good program, but I wonder what it did to STD rates? I'd think maybe that would go up. Less need for condoms, but perhaps more sexual activity and promiscuity, leading to more STDS.
 
thebeave said:
Sounds like a good program, but I wonder what it did to STD rates? I'd think maybe that would go up. Less need for condoms, but perhaps more sexual activity and promiscuity, leading to more STDS.
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According ot the CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/Std/stats/by-age/15-24-all-STDs/default.htm

Chlamydia in 2009, 2010, 2011 was
2068, 1925, 2153 per 10,000 people 15-24, respectively.

Gonorrhea, same years:
259, 244, 200

Syphilis:
3, 2.9, 2.3

One dropped and went up, two dropped.
 
The State should provide free or heavily subsidised birth control to citizens.

The world didn't need more Palins.
 
NobleSavage said:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/10/health/colorado-teen-pregnancy/

Who would have thought.

An anonymous donor funded the $23 million initiative, which also provided training, outreach and technical assistance to clinics statewide.
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And yet, if we used tax dollars to make this same thing available to even more teenagers, no doubt you would scream and cry about how the Evil Liberal Agenda is "stealing" from you and giving things to people who don't deserve it, never mind that such a thing would ultimately reduce the number of human beings dependent on government help.
 
Shadowy Man said:
article linked said:
Seven out of 10 teen pregnancies in Colorado are unplanned...
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So, what's up with the planned teen pregnancies?
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If a 19 year old couple want to start a family, should the state tell them to wait a year to help out their arbitrary and rather foolish "teen pregnancy" statistic?

I would be much more interested in the "below the age of consent pregnancy" numbers, but they are probably not sufficiently alarming for political purposes.

Better still for a discussion of contraception would be an estimate of the "unplanned pregnancy" rate, with no reference to age; but that would be difficult to measure, and lacks the emotional power that is inherent in the "OMG won't somebody PLEASE think of the children" statistic.
 
bilby said:
Shadowy Man said:
So, what's up with the planned teen pregnancies?
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If a 19 year old couple want to start a family, should the state tell them to wait a year to help out their arbitrary and rather foolish "teen pregnancy" statistic?
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About 80% of pregnancies among 18 - 19 year olds are unplanned. The reported reduction in "teen pregnancies" likely included mostly 18-19 year olds.

I would be much more interested in the "below the age of consent pregnancy" numbers, but they are probably not sufficiently alarming for political purposes.
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It is true that the pregnancy rate for 15-17 year olds is only about 4% versus about 12% for 18-19 year old. However, the vast majority of pregnancies among young adults above the age of consent by still in the 18-23 y.o. range are unplanned pregnancies, with a huge % of them among poorer and the children of those pregnancies being much more likely to wind up in poverty themselves and requiring public assistance or involved in crime. So, why wouldn't you be interesting in a program that reduces poverty and crime in the long run via investment now in preventing unplanned pregnancies in general


Better still for a discussion of contraception would be an estimate of the "unplanned pregnancy" rate, with no reference to age; but that would be difficult to measure, and lacks the emotional power that is inherent in the "OMG won't somebody PLEASE think of the children" statistic.
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Unplanned pregnancy among women over 25 is also and issue and reducing those numbers would also benefit society and reduce future costs in many ways. However, the negative impact of unplanned pregnancies when the mother is a teen is much higher than when the mother is 30. A 30 year old is more likely to be able to handle the situation, the father is more likely to contribute to the upbringing, and the child is less likely to impede the parents education and early career development since those things will be over before the child came along. IOW, society has a rational basis to care about preventing unplanned pregnancies in general, but also especially among younger women and teens.
 
doubtingt said:
bilby said:
If a 19 year old couple want to start a family, should the state tell them to wait a year to help out their arbitrary and rather foolish "teen pregnancy" statistic?
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About 80% of pregnancies among 18 - 19 year olds are unplanned. The reported reduction in "teen pregnancies" likely included mostly 18-19 year olds.
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'Likely' isn't very convincing; I agree that it is indeed 'likely', but as unlikely things happen quite a bit, I would be interested in seeing some actual numbers on this.
I would be much more interested in the "below the age of consent pregnancy" numbers, but they are probably not sufficiently alarming for political purposes.
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It is true that the pregnancy rate for 15-17 year olds is only about 4% versus about 12% for 18-19 year old.
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Is it? I have not studied this, so I have no idea what the actual rates are. 4% feels rather high to me though; Based on a completely unscientific memory of the proportion of girls at my high school thirty years ago who got pregnant, I would guesstimate about 1% - but that was in a different place and time. Do you have a reference for that figure?
However, the vast majority of pregnancies among young adults above the age of consent by still in the 18-23 y.o. range are unplanned pregnancies, with a huge % of them among poorer and the children of those pregnancies being much more likely to wind up in poverty themselves and requiring public assistance or involved in crime. So, why wouldn't you be interesting in a program that reduces poverty and crime in the long run via investment now in preventing unplanned pregnancies in general
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Absolutely I am interested in such a thing; I have little doubt that providing free (or very cheap) contraception to young people is a great idea. I just don't see the value in distorting the statistics, even in support of a good cause. That leads to waste and/or poor policy decisions; and perhaps more importantly, exaggerating opens the door for the irrationality brigade to claim that you are lying, and that nothing at all need be done - or worse still, that the little that is being done should be stopped.
Better still for a discussion of contraception would be an estimate of the "unplanned pregnancy" rate, with no reference to age; but that would be difficult to measure, and lacks the emotional power that is inherent in the "OMG won't somebody PLEASE think of the children" statistic.
Click to expand...

Unplanned pregnancy among women over 25 is also and issue and reducing those numbers would also benefit society and reduce future costs in many ways. However, the negative impact of unplanned pregnancies when the mother is a teen is much higher than when the mother is 30. A 30 year old is more likely to be able to handle the situation, the father is more likely to contribute to the upbringing, and the child is less likely to impede the parents education and early career development since those things will be over before the child came along. IOW, society has a rational basis to care about preventing unplanned pregnancies in general, but also especially among younger women and teens.
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Indeed; but it still makes no sense at all to report a number that is 'a bit like' what society needs to care about, rather than a number that is exactly what society needs to care about. The first step to a rational solution is an understanding of the problem; this is not helped by emotive statistics like 'Teen pregnancy' being used as a proxy for sensible statistics like 'Unplanned pregnancies', or 'Unplanned pregnancies in under 25s', or 'Pregnancies below the age of consent'.
 
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