This one thing could plummet teen birth numbers
The latest data indicates teen pregnancies, as a whole, are down over the last few years, but even with a decline, more than 750,000 teenage…
Study finds that access to free contraception would lower unwanted teen pregnancies. (Shutterstock)
The latest data indicates teen pregnancies, as a whole, are down over the last few years, but even with a decline, more than 750,000 teenage girls become pregnant every year. Much thought has been put into how to continue to prevent teen pregnancy, but until now, experts had no definitive answer.
As it turns out, there may be an easy way to drop teen pregnancy numbers, though it likely won’t sit well with parents would prefer children under the age of 18 simply abstain from sex. The answer, according to researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine, is to provide teens with access to free, long-acting contraception, and they claim to have proven their theory through a study called the Contraceptive CHOICE Project.
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When experts provided approximately 1,400 teens between the ages of 15 and 19 with basic contraceptive counseling, presenting the most effective options first, pregnancies, birth and abortion rates dropped well below the national average. All the study participants were provided free birth control of their choice, and after counseling, 72 percent chose long-acting, reversible methods while the remaining 28 percent opted for “other” forms, including the pill.
“For many years, parents, practitioners and policy makers thought, ‘Those (long-acting contraception) methods aren’t for teens; they’re not going to want those methods.’ We were able to demonstrate that if they are properly counseled and if they have a choice, they will pick those methods, actually use them, and have really great outcomes as a result,” chief author Gina Secura said, as reported by Reuters.
Overall, the findings indicated offering long-acting no-cost contraception to teenage girls with appropriate counseling decreased the pregnancy rate by 79 percent over a 5-year period, also reducing the abortion rate by 77 percent.
Teen pregnancies plummet with free Contraception. (Shutterstock )
Secura told the Huffington Post the findings have implications when it comes to addressing teen pregnancies among high-risks groups like Hispanics. Regardless of ethnicity, teens in the study showed the same promising numbers.
“Nationally, there’s a huge disparity, like a lot of health conditions,” she said. “But in the CHOICE cohort, they were almost nearly identical. So it can be done. We can reduce the disparity in unintended pregnancy in our teens in the United States. When the first woman came to enroll and we asked her what she wanted, she said, ‘I don’t know what I want. What are the options?’ This light bulb went off, [like], ‘Oh my goodness, we have a job to do,’” Secura said. “The first thing we did is say, ‘Let’s completely turn education upside down. Rather than starting by talking about the pill, let’s start with the most effective method, then go down the list.’”
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Secura indicated that, despite the fact that cost was a barrier for some women, lack of knowledge was the primary reason for choosing less effective means of birth control. Experts were startled to find that even women who could afford any birth control they wanted opted for less effective means because they simply didn’t know all their options and the most effective methods.
That fact doesn’t, however, eliminate the fact that cost is an issue for many women when it comes to contraceptives, which is why researchers made sure to provide any contraception a woman desired at no-cost.
“The up-front costs are anywhere from $500 to $1,000, depending on the device and the cost of the insertion,” said Secura.”You reach cost neutrality within two years with the long-acting methods. But these methods last three, four, five, or six years. So not only are they more effective, they start to regain the financial investment while they’re still in use,” she said.
