Several factors contributed to the falling birth rates, the department said in a press release. One factor was the state’s school sex education program, which law requires to be comprehensive and medically accurate. The report also credits community-based education programs that provide sexual health information to teens and their parents.
“We do believe that our programs are behind these numbers,” Karen Ramstrom, the chief of the program standards branch at the California Department of Public Health’s maternal child and adolescent health division, told the Los Angeles Times.
“California’s innovative strategies and community partnerships aimed at lowering teen pregnancy are helping young women and men make responsible choices,” Dr. Ron Chapman, director of the CDPH, said in a press release. “We must not be complacent; we must continue to promote teen pregnancy prevention programs and strategies in all communities.”
Innovative! Responsible choices! and a pregnancy rate that hasn’t gone down at all. Witness the correction at the bottom:
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article said that the state’s teen pregnancy rates had dropped. It is the teen birth rates that have dropped.
So what that may mean is that teens are simply having more abortions. If the birth rate drops, but the pregnancy rate doesn’t, I can’t think of what else that would mean. This is why good stats are important.
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