Teen Pregnancy Rates Rising With Alaska Leading The Way: CDC Report

ABC News:

Although 18-year-old Bristol Palin has made headlines in recent months for her pregnancy and the birth of her son, Tripp, she has a lot of company -- in her state and in the rest of the nation.

According to the newest numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, teen births increased by 3 percent nationally in 2006, reversing a 15-year decline of more than a third. And Palin's home state of Alaska -- one of 26 states to see a rise -- led the way, with a 19 percent increase in the teenage birthrate from the previous year.

Read the whole story: ABC News

Comments

[zippy2112]

09:30 AM on 01/08/2009

Numerically, the largest increases were in the states with the largest populations. California, Texas and Florida together generated almost 30 percent of the nation's teen births .
AP NEWS

[zippy2112]

07:52 PM on 01/07/2009

Where does my home town of Mississippi rate in this here study?

[emily00011]

03:14 AM on 01/08/2009

who cares, you are math-challenged, so you'd have trouble calculating the %increase anyways.

[zippy2112]

11:13 AM on 01/08/2009

looks like you are fact-challenged.

[Bitsko]

06:23 PM on 01/07/2009

Alaska also has the highest rising rape rate in the country.

[Tom Payned]

07:15 PM on 01/07/2009

I believe incest as well.

[bluguy8]

11:07 PM on 01/07/2009

you can thank Sarah you betcha

[Scooter60660]

06:09 PM on 01/07/2009

Ann Coulter should slam the Palin family the next time she is on the air promoting her book. Was it ever determined that Palin's daughter is a high school drop out too? I guess the Palin family represented real Americans after all.

[Grannysue]

06:03 PM on 01/07/2009

Hum, seems the bible belt States are also well represented, maybe they will someday believe in birth control as well as their religions. Especially that nonsense about "Abstinance", yea that works well now doesn't it???? I would be very interested in comparing the rate of insest and rape along side the teen birth rates and of course those teens that say they used absistance only!

[Tom Payned]

05:56 PM on 01/07/2009

Gee, Alaska is number one!

Folks this is the "Real America".

Sarah must also be proud, she found something her reign of ignorance could increase, a population explosion of unwed, uneducated teenage girls who no longer have a future.

What an example her family has shown. Don't finish high school, get an illegal job because of who you know, protect drug dealing in-laws because their arrest could derail your already doomed candidate.

I certainly hope that James Dobbson and Pat Robertson are so happy that their sexual education methods have proven so effective. Since the conservative Christian right were so happy to embrace Palin's decision to "choose" life, they must be ecstatic, all of those little underage girls drawing welfare, while the white baby daddy's shirk their responsibilities.

Oh wait, the party of family values, as part of their "Contract for America) pushed for and received welfare reform. These girls' babies will only get (socialistic) taxpayer funds to eat and have supplied health care for a total of five years.

Child support from the baby daddies? Good luck with that.

[tel8034]

06:48 PM on 01/07/2009

Do you think James Dobson and Pat Robertson now understand that bein an evangelical right winger IS NOT the latest break through in birth control?

[Philip N. Cohen]

05:43 PM on 01/07/2009

I just posted on this news. Birth rates are up for all groups - ages, races, and marital statuses - in recent years. Why? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-n-cohen/why-are-american-women-ha_b_156018.html

[kennybean]

05:58 PM on 01/07/2009

Same reason plants produce more seeds when they are threatened?

[Margary]

06:02 PM on 01/07/2009

Because it seems Republicans christians seems to think they have the right to run all our lifes the way they want to with their rules,laws, and christian beliefs!

[glockman]

06:09 PM on 01/07/2009

And democrat christians don't?

[zippy2112]

05:19 PM on 01/07/2009

which state leads in teen abortions?

[VOTER]

05:25 PM on 01/07/2009

Depends upon how you come by your information.

The wealthy don't go to clinics for such medical care.

SPA WEEKENDS are in.

[emily00011]

03:12 AM on 01/08/2009

A baby makes unprotected teen se.x a-ok then?

[gastoys]

05:05 PM on 01/07/2009

So much hate towards Christians in here, why?

What did Christians do that is so horrible to our society?

[BPCentrisAmerican]

05:23 PM on 01/07/2009

no just the professional ones, who make a living off it

[BPCentrisAmerican]

05:38 PM on 01/07/2009

Force there beliefs on me.

[kylennblack]

05:00 PM on 01/07/2009

Shocking.

And by shocking I mean not really.

What do you expect when the zeitgeist for the last eight years has been to denigrate knowledge as 'elitist' and to promote ignorance-only sex 'education.'

[TonyRome]

04:53 PM on 01/07/2009

Alaska teens have a new role model in Bristol Palin.

[gastoys]

05:14 PM on 01/07/2009

Yeah, you are correct, because liberal stars like Madonna are such great role models.

[VOTER]

05:33 PM on 01/07/2009

Madonna might thank you but it is highly unlikely she is considered to
be a "teen" role model.

Bristol Palin, thanks to her Mommy Dearest, is now in the national
news.

She is not married yet she is a teen and a mother.

[BPCentrisAmerican]

05:44 PM on 01/07/2009

Madonna's a liberal? I don't think she has ever shared politics. Do you think Brittany Spears screwed up personal life is a great roll model for young girls she loved George Bush. I would say the Dixi Chicks are liberals at least they were right about Bush, they seem to keep pretty normal personal lives.

[bluguy8]

11:10 PM on 01/07/2009

She's the poster child

[glockman]

04:42 PM on 01/07/2009

I can believe this (Alaska having the biggest increase). Have you guys been there? I have. I had an extended visit two years ago. It didn't get dark until around midnight. It's natural beauty is hard to surpass. But there's not much to do there but drink and screw.

[Whatashame]

05:42 PM on 01/07/2009

Drink and screw. LOL

[Irish55]

04:23 PM on 01/07/2009

Wait until Ann Coulter hears about this!

[bleeplander]

04:49 PM on 01/07/2009

According to her single moms are liberal and only a concern for democrats, which is obviously the belief of SP who cut funding on sex ed, and for single moms.

[quindy]

03:48 PM on 01/07/2009

Why is this article in the "Style" section? What kind of style is it to be teenager and pregnant?

[Knowbetter]

04:14 PM on 01/07/2009

"Lifestyle."

[zippy2112]

03:38 PM on 01/07/2009

If you go to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention web page you will see that the headline is misleading (surprise, surprise) Alaska is far from leading.

[quindy]

03:50 PM on 01/07/2009

But they did have a 19% increase in one year. That's a lot.

[zippy2112]

04:20 PM on 01/07/2009

below is data from the cdc site, AK ranks 19 out of 57 US states. The increase was +7.0

ALASKA 44.3

U.S. RATE 41.9

RANK 19

2005 ALASKA RATE 37.3

CHANGE FROM 2005 TO 2006 +7.0

[american2008]

03:50 PM on 01/07/2009

I bet you think the status of #1 in forcible rapes in America is also wrong! Palin and that state is a total joke!

http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/akcrime.htm