Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Is The Latest Front In The War On Science

A few weeks ago, the Trump Administration suddenly killed a modest federal program, the Teenage Pregnancy Prevention program. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) summarily ended grants to hospitals, schools, and community groups after only three years of work, leaving service delivery and evaluation efforts in limbo. While first appearing to be just another skirmish in the culture wars, ending the program fits within the Administration’s larger efforts to devalue science, data, and evidence. Aside from causing harm by ending effective services, the Administration is quashing any faint hope that the Federal government can learn what programs work in order to solve persistent social challenges. Conservative and progressive policy makers agree that bearing a child while a teenager harms the life chances of parent and child. But progressives and conservatives disagree on what to do. Conservatives argue for an emphasis on family values, abstinence, and marriage. Progressives add a role for education about sexuality and healthy decision making as well as access to contraception. Despite these disagreements, teenage pregnancy and birth rates have plummeted. Births to teenage parents peaked in 1991 at 61.8 births/1,000 women ages 15-19, with the current rate 22.3 births per 1,000 women in this age group in 2015. The rate of teenage pregnancy also peaked in 1991. Disparities between Black and White and between Hispanic and White teenage birth rates have also narrowed. ...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Featured Public Health Quality teenage pregnancy Source Type: blogs