CDC Analyzes Teen Mom Contraception Use

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CDC Analyzes Teen Mom Contraception Use

Special Report - January 26, 2012
About half of teen mothers in a government survey were using contraception when they became pregnant, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report, which was published January 20 in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), is based on an analysis of data from the 2004-2008 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS). The PRAMS includes “estimated rates of self-reported pre-pregnancy contraceptive use among white, black and Hispanic teen girls aged 15-19 years with unintended pregnancies resulting in live births.” The CDC analyzed the data to determine not only contraceptive use but also “why teens wishing to avoid pregnancy become pregnant.”

Half (or 50.1 percent) of the teens girls in the survey were not using any contraception at the time they become pregnant, while the remaining half reported using some form of birth control, specifically:

21 percent of the teenage girls who became pregnant reported using a “highly effective” form of birth control (such as sterilization, IUD, or oral contraceptive);
24.2 percent reported using a “moderately effective” form of birth control (i.e., condoms, according to the CDC’s definition);
5.2 percent reported using the “least effective” form of birth control (such as a diaphragm or cervical cap or rhythm method).

Another important finding from the survey is that the majority of the teen mothers who did not use any form of birth control mistakenly believed that they could not get pregnant at the time they engaged in sexual activity. For example, among the teen mothers who reported using no contraception when they became pregnant:

31.4 percent said they believed they could not get pregnant at the time;
23.6 percent said their partner did not want to use contraception;
22 percent said they did not mind if they became pregnant;
13.1 percent reported lack of access to birth control;
9.4 percent were concerned about side effects of contraception;
8.0 percent thought their partners were “sterile.”

“This CDC study is further evidence of the importance of abstinence education for young people, and the failure of contraceptive sex education in the United States,” said Bill Brooks, president of the North Carolina Family Policy Council. “That many of these teen girls used contraception but still became pregnant, or wrongly believed that they would not become pregnant if they engaged in sexual activity highlights the undeniable fact that teenagers are not morally, physically, emotionally or mentally ready for sexual activity.”

Brooks added, “The focus of sex education should not be to push contraception on young people but to teach them how to delay sexual activity until marriage.”

Related resources:
Sex Standards Promote Gender Confusion - January 12, 2012
Federal Abstinence Funds Restored - January 10, 2012