In California, The Teen Birth Rate Has Hit A Record Low. How?

Speaker 1: 00:00 Over the last 20 years, teen birth rates across the nation have declined. And across the state of California teen birth rates between females aged 15 to 19 have hit record lows according to the most recent 2017 data. But there are some counties in the state where teen birth rates are soaring. Elizabeth Castillo has been covering this story for Cal matters and joins us to explain. Elizabeth, welcome. Hi there. Thanks for having me. So teen birth rates in California have hit a record low. How much of a decrease has the state seen? So the state has seen quite the decrease. Um, currently we're at, um, nearly 14 bursts per 1000 females ages 15 to 19, and it's kind of just been a dribble, um, a downward trend ever since, uh, in 2000. Let's see. Yeah, it was closer to 46 births per 1000. So it's definitely been declining. Speaker 1: 00:59 So what do officials attribute the decline to? So first off, teens are waiting longer to have sex and that's according to the department of public health in California. And if they are having sex, more teens have reported using more than one form of contraception. Um, more than half of California high-schoolers reported using a condom the last time they had sex and more female teenagers have also taken advantage of long acting reversible contraceptives, which include, um, IUD is, and, um, the contraceptive implant. And there was a sex ed update, right? Yeah. Yeah. So California has had, um, sex ed since 2003, um, schools were required to teach HIV and AIDS prevention. But, um, in 2016, the California healthy youth act went into effect and that requires more comprehensive sexual sexual education and schools can tell teens how to access community services. So [inaudible] a lot more comprehensive. More recently there was some criticism, even outrage over the sex ed update. Speaker 1: 02:04 You mentioned there called the California healthy youth act. Can you tell me about that? Yeah, so I'm, you know, there's still some people who think that maybe this isn't a school's place to be telling, um, teenagers where to go get birth control and where, you know, you know, where they can access the morning after pill. Um, somebody I spoke to, she was saying that, you know, she kind of sees in 10 years that teen birth rates will go up because this is a how to, on how to have sex. Um, she also called it pornography wrapped up in a bow and, and some, some people thought the new sex ed requirements would actually raise teen birth rates. Did their concerns pan out at all? That hasn't been seen yet. Um, you know, who I've spoken to, she was kind of saying that, um, in the next 10 years, that's kind of her prediction. Speaker 1: 02:53 But really it's, it's been declining everywhere. Um, even counties that have had, um, higher teen birth rates. So that brings me to my next question. While the state overall has seen a drop in teen pregnancies, when we look at the statistics by County, there are some areas that have not seen that decline. Imperial County has the highest rate in the state. Our officials able to pinpoint why there's wide variations throughout the state. Yeah. So I'm in places like Imperial County, this has definitely been a battle, you know, for well over a decade. In 2006, Imperial County had a rate of nearly 75 births per 1000 females, ages 15 to nine, and that's gone down dramatically. Um, now it's closer to 33 bursts per 1000 females. Um, so one thing that plays a role is definitely poverty. Um, access to service and education, especially in rural counties, there isn't as much access to health care. Speaker 1: 03:52 Um, in Kern County for instance, and some of it's more rural areas, there might not even be a community clinic. So what their department of public health has launched is a mobile health unit. And so that offers, you know, people birth control and sexual health services. And in your article you really went in depth about some of those commonalities, um, shared by counties with the highest teen birth rates. Can you tell me a bit more about that? So I'm right. There's income inequality. Um, so specifically, um, Latinos tend to have a higher poverty rate in California and similarly, um, Latinas actually represent the highest ethnic group of teen birth rates. They have a rate of 21 burst per 1000. Um, while, uh, for, for white folks, it's just six per 1000. So there's definitely a big disparity there. You mentioned that many of the counties where they're our highest birth rates, uh, are rural. Speaker 1: 04:47 We're you able to explore it all, how exposure to career opportunities and life planning impacts teen birth rates. You know, I do think that's a big issue. I'm obviously, if someone has access to something, their life outcomes might not work out as well. So that's actually another thing that the state has kind of been working on. Um, in counties with higher teen birth rates. There's the adolescent family life program and what that does is that connects, um, teen parents to resources and case workers. And, um, I actually spoke to someone who used this service and she said that it actually changed her life. Um, she had her daughter when she was 16 and um, the services really helped her battle her depression while she was finishing high school as a teen mom. Currently she's working full time and going to college full time while also taking care of her daughter. Speaker 1: 05:36 So I think, you know, with programs like that, it's really trying to, um, change life outcomes. Um, it's also been shown that children of teen parents tend to become teen parents themselves. So this is an example of something to kind of end that cycle. And are there other programs out there that are working and effective in some of these counties with high birth rates? Another program that's also available across the state is the family pact program. What this does is this, um, goes, uh, birth control and reproductive health services and counseling to low income people in the state. And for teens specifically, they can also sign up for it as an independent. So they're, they're given, you know, this option for birth control and they can do it confidentially. So if they're on, you know, their parents' health insurance, for instance, they can, um, use the family pact program and sign up for birth control confidentially and independently. I've been speaking with Elizabeth Castillo, a reporter with Cal matters. Elizabeth, thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate it. Speaker 2: 06:43 [inaudible].