Unplanned Pregnancies Decrease for Young Women

Tuesday, July 03, 2012

Ashley Palumbo, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

Abortions and unplanned pregnancies have seen a marked decrease in young women over the last 20 years. New data released by the National Center for Health Statistics compared numbers from 1990 to 2008 and found that pregnancies were down by 18 percent – from a rate of 198.5 per 1,000 women to 163 per 1,000. Abortions decreased by 32 percent – from a rate of 56.7 per 1,000 women to 38.4 per 1,000.

According to Planned Parenthood, a similar decline has occurred in Massachusetts thanks to improved sexual education in schools and better access to health care. The organization has seven health centers located across the state and offers its “Get Real” educational program to 131 different schools.

“A lot of it is about empowerment,” said Tricia Wajda, director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. “Our comprehensive education in schools is not just about how to use contraceptive correctly and consistently, but it also includes focusing on healthy self-esteem.”

The national study found that pregnancy and abortion rates are lower for teens and women in their late 20s as well. The Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy said that’s also true for Massachusetts, where teen pregnancies dropped by 50% from the late 80s to 2010.

“The credit has to go to young people,” said Patricia Quinn, executive director for the Alliance. “They’re the ones changing their behavior, whether they’re waiting or if they’re choosing to be better about prevention.”
Both Quinn and Wajda agree that parents deserve some of the credit, too. Since 2005, Planned Parenthood has offered a special program for parents called, “Let’s Be Honest.”

“It gives parents the tools and tips to help them have these sometimes awkward and challenging conversations that they don’t want to have, but should have,” Wajda said.

More Contraceptive Options

It’s only logical that fewer unplanned pregnancies mean fewer abortions. According to the Guttmacher Institute, “publicly subsidized family planning services in the United States have been shown to have helped women prevent 20 million pregnancies over the last 20 years, nine million of which would have been expected to end in abortion.” Wajda said access to birth control is a key part of family planning.

“It’s an average of 30 years that a woman is going to spend trying to avoid getting pregnant,” Wajda said. “All of our centers offer an array of birth control options. What might work for teens differs for women in their 20s and 30s, so we work with patients to discuss their lifestyle and the appropriate options.”

Community Concerns

In this time of major healthcare reform, Quinn said that these statistics are a success story and something that every community has a stake in.

“It’s the same factors. If you want people to delay pregnancy until later in their 20s - so they can attain an education and economic stability and grow up - then they need to have access to contraceptives. My hope is that policy makers will look at that and decide to get behind birth control,” Quinn said.

But there are signs that some of the infrastructure that helped get these good results has been done away with. According to the most recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey in Massachusetts, the number of young people who said they have been taught about HIV/AIDS has declined – from 93% in 2005 to 84% in 2011.

“That means that schools are taking it out of the curriculum in some way and that overall, sexual education is eroding.” Quinn said.