To wonder why teenage pregnancy rates have gone down

[Reallytired17]

here

Anecdotally, I remember four girls having babies in Year 11 in 1999.

Is it to do with better access to contraception, or are more pregnancies being terminated?

My parents told me nothing I didn’t even get the period talk from my parents, so I do find it interesting.

Do people really think that the kids are actually out having unprotected sex but it’s just not penetrative, penis in vagina?

Ah, just found it - by Alison Hadley, yes?

I have never really believed lack of education was the reason for teen pregnancies. I'm pretty sure most 16 year olds know where babies come from, and they knew it in the 90s too.

Some of the social media suggestions are really interesting, I hadn't realised that that would mean less kids hanging round bus stops and therefore shagging, but I suppose it probably does! And yes, the girls having online role models rather than local ones also could make a difference.

I'm also in agreement with a PP who said some of the changes to the benefits system may have made a difference. It's anecdotal, so obviously not gospel, but when I was a teenager in the early 2000s I did know girls who got pregnant so that they could get a free house. In fact, one girl I knew went to the job centre to find out how much she could get before she even fessed up to her boyfriend that she was pregnant.

Because there are no council houses left and it's no longer an easy route for girls with few prospects to access secure accommodation.

My school leaving year was 1995 and I knew (and still know) countless girls who took that route having babies in their last year or just after. They would be in temporary accommodation for a few months before getting a permanent home which often had a garden or was in a decent area (and this was in Greater London). They tended to stay on benefits until their kids were grown and then retrained and some of the women I know who did it are quite successful. I don't blame them for doing it, it was a smart choice at the time. They and their kids are securely housed, have the family they wanted and by their 30s were free to live their own lives again.

Nowadays you would probably be put in temporary accommodation. And in the South East you can be in temporary accommodation for a decade or more and it's horrible. No nice house, no secure accommodation, horrible childhood for your kids. Sometimes they demand people accept housing hundreds of miles from their family and support.

People aren't stupid, of course they're not going to have a baby when that's the outcome.

What about general conception rates irrespective of age?

Also covered in that report

Conception rates in 2015 increased for women aged 25 years and over, and decreased for women aged under 25 years.

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/conceptionandfertilityrates/bulletins/conceptionstatistics/2015

I listened to the R4 series mentioned above and there was a whole section on social media star. The greatest decline in teenage pregnancy happened in 2007 which coincided with Facebook taking off .

A lot of it was down to a really hard (and well-funded) push by the Labour government to reduce the teenage conception rate - much more attention paid to sex education, more easily available contraception etc. Long-term, foolproof contraception such as implants has also played a huge part. While pregnancies have gone down though, STIs are rising among young people, I believe. It's a conundrum.

There is a huge drive to put girls on the implant who seek contraceptive advice when teenagers rather than the pill so less chance of failure by having to remember to take a daily tablet. I have a friend who is a school nurse, she actively ' pursues' vulnerable girls on her caseload to check they are using contraception and does drop in clinics in schools. condom cards are available to obtain these free.

Housing crisis. Now that they don't automatically get given a council house there's much less incentive to get pregnant as a lifestyle choice.

Dare I say it but people who have been brought up in single parent households seem less inclined to want this for their own child so will abort /take MAP. This is the feel I get from the students I teach and not a judgement on any single parents

I think this is true also. Me and dp split when ds was still a baby. Even though I met dp not long after, and ds had always been 50/50 between us.

When he started to have sex with his gf after a year of them being together, (he discussed it with me before they did), she went on the pill and they use condoms.

He doesn't want to be a young dad, and although he was lucky in both his parents still managed to go to uni on time, get degrees and good jobs, it's not what he wants.

We were taking the other night actually and I asked what he would do if by some chance she did fall pregnant, and he said they wouldn't keep it. Because they would not want that struggle in life for them or for their child, and i would fully support that.

He also knows that if by some chance she's been unwell, maybe a vomiting bug, and they did have sex without a condom (he says highly unlikely) m, that I will take them for the MAP the next day.

There was an analysis done somewhere which said the implant had by far had the most impact on the decline in teenage pregnancies.

Better education
better access to easy to use contraception - both before and after sex
less alcohol use
more weed use
less face-to-face meeting due to social media
more expectation that girls will have a life beyond "having a baby for a council house"
less council housing/changes in benefits for young people.

Ah, ok, thanks, trills

i dont really think Teenmom gives an accurate potrael of what its like being a teen mother though Museum?they are all incredibly well off now and celebrities in their own right?

*one up the bum, no harm done, one up the fanny, your mum's a granny."

no harm done sure, just an increased risk of other medical issues (like STDs, anal fissures etc).

We had very comprehensive sex-ed in high school, my aunt gave me a sex ed book and my father gave me a very detailed talk about STD’s, infidelity an HIV & Aids.

I do think that this is one of the reasons why I’ve never had an STD or had to deal with an unwanted pregnancy. But being bisexual probably helped as well, tbh...

I’m fairly certain that this is why my father was totally fine with me dating girls / women during a time when that was a bit less accepted than it is nowadays....

When I was a teen ages ago my friend got pregnant , I think she was just 17, and was told that if she kept the baby she would get a council flat. She was bright and wanted to Uni but was tempted by the council flat. 😱😱😱. That definitely wouldn't happen now. She had an abortion and went to university.

My kids are all in their 20's and having a baby as a teen would be seen as a disaster to them. They all too sensible. Both my daughters said when they were younger that if they got pregnant and hadn't used MAP they would have had abortions.

I think having kids when you are a teenager is generally seen as a bad idea these days.

I know these figures are conception not birth but pregnancies averted by the MAP are not counted so that must be having an impact.

MNers complain about the NHS’s determined push of Mirena as the gold standard of contraception but it really makes a difference for this age group. Condoms have a real world success rate of 85%.

And yes parents are more paranoid about what their children are up to. Most recently the public knowledge of the Rotherham sexual abuse scandal (and others) will give parents (and care homes) even more understanding of risks to their daughters.

I made sure both my girls were on the pill before they became sexually active. Actually DD2 is on the pill and has only ever had girlfriends but she does like boys a bit, so we had a long chat about contraception and she got sorted out before she went to uni. I would see pregnancy as a disaster for them. It was a lot more hit and miss in my day.

Anecdotally though my girls both have friends who have had a terrible time on the implant (think non stop period). So they both went down the pill route and have changed to find the one that suited them best.

There is something in the anal comment, unfortunately.

both my teenage girls discuss sex and contraception with me. I went with our eldest (at her request) to get the pill. I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing that with my own mum.
it’s much harder for girls to jump on the benefits train these days, the support for teenage mothers isn’t what it was.

Tinkly, I think there is something in that. Parents are more aware now and encourage use of contraception. In the 90s parents used to pretend to themselves that their daughters couldn't possibly be having sex, and if they told them anything they told them not to have sex, not how to get contraception.

I think part of it must be to do with parents being more willing to talk to their children about sex and contraception. My parents said absolutely nothing, The undercurrent was that it was embarrassing to the point of being a bit 'dirty'. Nothing said about periods at all. Trying to buy sanitary ware was highly embarrasssing, so trying to buy condoms would have required the skills of a highly trained spy. My sister did get pregnant at 18 and my mother organised a termination for her - never mentioned to my father, all very hush hush. I was 20 at the time and no longer living at home so my sister came to stay with me for a few days.

In my area, there is a huge push to increase access to advice and contraception. Sexual health workers go out into pubs and clubs, providing advice and condoms, the same thing happens in schools through school nurses and SH workers. SH clinics are held just for young people. The provision of LARC is promoted for all women and girls.

Re the increase in STIs, part of that will be down to increased availability of clinics and testing elsewhere. Young people can pick up testing kits in pubs, clubs, pharmacies and order them online. They are much more likely to do this, rather than go to the clinic. Where many infections eg chlamydia would have previously gone undiagnosed, thats not the case now. Also in many areas, the contraception and STI testing/advice services are now combined, so easier access to both. Hopefully, in the longer term, the number of infections will start to decrease as a result of these pushes.

I think the accessibility of higher education will play a factor too, partially the availability of it, and partially the expectation from schools (and the government) that you will go on to college/uni in some way, shape or form. It doesn't leave having a baby as a workable option if the next 3-4 years of your life are already going to be occupied by study or apprenticeship.

It would take a very unaware teenager to be unaware of how difficult life on benefits would be for them too, with all the stuff in the press/social media about UC, housing crisis etc.

The fact someone said pregnancies have gone down due to the increase in things like anal sex just shows how out of touch MN is with the real world 😂😂😂😂