It is surely no coincidence that these films are emerging from a country that has had eight years of ultra-conservative Republican rule. A report last week showed that abortions in the US have fallen by 25% since 1990, and 2006 saw the largest number of children born for 45 years - but the teenage birth rate also rose for the first time in 15 years.
This is a bad thing? Discuss.
(BTW, Tim Harford’s new book puts part of the explanation (please note part) down to two things: one, the risk of HIV leading to more oral and less penetrative sex and second, to parental notification laws. No, not stopping young girls having abortions, but raising the perceived cost to them of unprotected sex thus reducing the incidence.)
5 responses so far ↓
1 mich // Jan 28, 2008 at 12:30 pm
But I did not see a rise in the teenage birth rate from this graph:
http://www.childtrendsdatabank.org/tables/79_Table_1.htm
2 billadams // Jan 28, 2008 at 2:17 pm
The Culture of Death will not be happy until we are all dead.
3 David Gillies // Jan 28, 2008 at 7:00 pm
The idea that the US under Bush has been ‘ultra-conservative’ is risible. NCLB, Medicaid reform, pork-barrel spending up the wazoo, even the engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan: none of these is remotely ‘ultra-conservative’.
4 gene berman // Jan 28, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Ditto to David.
5 DocBud // Jan 29, 2008 at 1:05 am
Giving birth to a teenager, that would make your eyes water.
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