New teen birth rate leader
Mississippi now owns the distinction of being the state with the nation’s highest rate of teen pregnancy, which is 60 percent above the rest of the country, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The good news is that the study, which is based on the review of birth certificates, implies that Mississippi teens, in greater numbers, are apparently choosing life over abortion. The report also notes that Mississippi, like previous leaders New Mexico and Texas, has a large proportion of black and Hispanic teenagers, groups that traditionally have higher birth rates.
In WORLD’s annual Roe v. Wade issue, Lynn Vincent writes about the effect abortion has on these two minority groups. In “Black genocide,” Lynn writes about how African-Americans are fighting the high toll of abortion in their own community by developing compassionate alternatives. And in “American girls,” Lynn reports that when it comes to abortion, some Hispanics are becoming a bit too assimilated.




Learn it! Speak it! Live it!
Bring Christmas to a child in need!








Click to Print
Include Comments











back to top22 Comments to “New teen birth rate leader”
Interestingly MS leads the nation in obesity. I saw a news story about a booming industry there: manufacturing “plus sized” coffins!
If they have a high rate of young gals getting knocked up and poor phys ed budgets for non-football related activities, does it not follow that many of the post-partum gals would not lose the pregnancy related weight? And how many of these teen moms with the added blubber postpartum come up pregnant again?
Perhaps too at least some of the teens marry?
Report comment to moderator
I dont think we should put too much spotlight on illegitimacy by race/ethnic background. This is only fuel for bigotry rants. The British welfare state has created a similar permanent underclass in a nearly all white/Anglo nation. It’s the culture values and not the skin pigment that determines likelihood of premarital pregnancies, no??
Report comment to moderator
I just saw the headline about this on the Yahoo home page. The sub-heading was “Theories on cause.” I’m thinking the cause of pregnancy has been fairly well verified already, hasn’t it?
Report comment to moderator
2. That is a problem. Whenever a southern state comes out on the bottom of some sort of list, it is usually forbidden to bring out the race issue, which leave them wide open for anti-southern rants, which since the south is more evangelical, more republican and more conservative leads to people who think they now have proof for the superiorly of a liberal, atheist, Democrat lead world. If race is an issue, hiding will not help solve the problem.
Report comment to moderator
#4 KBells, again I think its primarily the susceptibility of certain groups to buy into the myopic media myths: no-consequences sexual activity for instance. Another myth might be the “its not your fault” victimology which excuses truly maladaptive behaviors endemic to ghetto-ized outlooks. The single never-married moms and out-of-wedlock kids are the flotsam and jetsam left in the wake of liberalism.
Pointing that out as Bill Cosby and a few others have bravely done is not thought crime.
At least not yet.
Report comment to moderator
Of those loudly cheering on Dr Cosby are CCRs such as those who cling barnacle-like to this blogsite.
Report comment to moderator
The figures are given as teen births vs total births, not teen births vs total female teens. I seriously wonder why the latter comparison is not published. With their comparison there could be a significant demographic effect if a state has a disproportionately low or high number of teens or births. I would like to see the balance per state of teens to 20-40 year olds.
The article states that the lowest teen birth rates are in New England, where I know the younger population is declining. This would absolutely affect their ranking.
In other words, the fact that Mississippi (or New Mexico) is on top of the list is trivial. I think people jump to conclusions a bit fast from statistics like these. Time for a reality check.
Numbers don’t always say what we think they say.
Report comment to moderator
There’s only one abortion mill in MS, and it’s only open part-time, thank God.
Report comment to moderator
I think in the early years post Roe, a lot of hard-hearted, wrong-headed bigot types took the view that “the more we feed, the more they breed”. I know Mississippi is a dirt-poor state but I cant imagine they have too generous a welfare bureaucracy.
If only statutory rape were aggressively prosecuted there!
Report comment to moderator
“I know Mississippi is a dirt-poor state but I cant imagine they have too generous a welfare bureaucracy.”
Why would you assume that?
Report comment to moderator
As we like to say in Alabama…Thank Goodness for Mississippi!
Mississipi is hardly dirt poor. Do you realize how much money goes into their economy from the casinos and from ship building. Their taking a good portion of Alabama’s money too!
Report comment to moderator
Residents of Mississippi have the lowest per-capita income of any state ($15,853). Also, the lowest median household income ($36,338). I’d call that dirt poor. Maybe the state itself is wealthy though?
Report comment to moderator
12. But what’s the cost of living there?
Report comment to moderator
Regional CPI:
Mississippi is 169.7
Avg. US City is 173.8
Average Annual Pay:
Mississippi: 26,012.33
Avg. US City: 34,868.
Report comment to moderator
KBELLS — What does race have to do with the fact that Southern States are usually on the bottom?
Report comment to moderator
I would think this helps disspell the myth that a generous welfare policy encourages single women including teens to get pregnant and have kids. I think I’m correct in assuming Mississippi is not nearly as generous as, say, California or New England.
Report comment to moderator
Mickey brought it up, Sawgunner questioned weather it should be an issue. I just said that if it is a factor in the problem then it should be a factor in looking for the solution. Southern States tend to have a larger percentage of black citizens. If black people are more at risk for a certain problem refusing to talk about will not help solve the problem. I agree that skin pigment does not determines the likelihood of premarital sex. But sometimes culture does.
Report comment to moderator
19.3% or 1 in 5 Mississippians is living under the poverty threshold. Only 16.9% have a college degree.
Report comment to moderator
HRW:
I don’t see how you can draw such a conclusion from this silly ranking. See my post 7.
Report comment to moderator
oops, never mind – my post 7 is mistaken, the study does compare with total teens. Sorry.
Note that the numbers came from here -
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr57/nvsr57_07.pdf
Table B on Page 7.
If there is a welfare effect, it could also be the effect of welfare reform decreasing the number if illegitimate births. Look at the startling decline in DC.
Report comment to moderator
My school system has the second-highest teen pregnancy rate in the state. Maybe it’s a ministry!
Report comment to moderator
KBELLS — I’m not saying that race has nothing to do with the place of Southern States at the bottom. You say it does, so talk about it. You won’t be censored! What makes black people “more at risk” of having problems? It’s not their pigmentation (we all hasten to declare), so what’s wrong with them?
Report comment to moderator
back to topJoin The Conversation
You need to be a registered user of WORLDonTheWeb.com to "join the conversation."
If you are not a member yet, what are you waiting for? Register / Login Now!