Rise in Teen Pregnancy Rates

According to a study printed in USA Today conducted the National Center for Health Statistics, there has been an increase in the rate of teen births across 26 states in the United States. This rise has been correlated to an overall increase of three percent in the rate of teen births, which has been the first rise that the country has seen in fifteen years. However, this article does not include abortion rates and whether those have increased or decreased for teenage pregnancies.

However, according to data from Child Trends Data Bank, teenage abortion rates have declined by 45% since 1990. This could point to the fact that perhaps there has not been an increase in the rate of teenagers getting pregnant but perhaps a shift from abortions to births.

And for some reason, this increase in the rate of teen births has been portrayed across all facets of the media. With young pregnant celebrities gracing the covers of magazines and TV shows portraying the situation it is hard not to notice it. However, it seems that this could be more of a cultural phenomenon rather than an actual shift in the increase of teenage pregnancies. People seem to be interested in every aspect of teen's pregnancies and therefore it is getting more media coverage than ever before.