“Almost 20% of Teen Births Are Not a First Child”: USA Today

reports:

Nearly one in five births to U.S. teens ages 15-19 is not a first child, says a federal report out today.

Of the 365,000 teens who gave birth in 2010, almost 67,000 (18.3%) have had at least one child before, according to the report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s down from 19.5% in 2007. Most were the teen mom’s second child (86%).

But more teen moms are using birth control, the report says — almost 91% used some form of contraception after having had a baby. But just 22% of those used contraceptive methods considered to be “most effective” — tubal ligation, vasectomy, hormonal implant or intrauterine device (IUD). With those, the report says, the risk of becoming pregnant is less than one pregnancy in 100 users a year. The pill, injectables, the patch and the ring are considered “moderately effective.” …

Manlove says as recently as 1990, 25% of teen births were repeat births. “We have seen a steady gradual decline,” she says. “Maybe these long-acting methods are the way to go to reduce repeat teen births in the future.”

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