Ed Balls' statistics!

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Ed Balls was on BBC news this morning saying that the gvt had been successful in reducing teenage pregnancies. He stated that conceptions were down 10% and births were down 20%. Is he actually implying that it is successful if teenagers get pregnant but then have an abortion so that the child is not born and therefore does not upset the statistics? Grrrrrr.

i didnt say that it shouldn't be a choice, but it should be presented as an absolute last resort and not a contraception choice - i was very lucky, i had supportive parents so for me the choice was easy.

Im not sure in my heart of hearts i really am pro-choice if i am honest. But i would never judge another woman's choice - i do think it is a dangerous road to go down if we are going to instill in our children, yes, you best be using contraception but its ok, if you screw up you can always have an abortion. What about STD's? I wonder what the statistics are on chlamidyia?

lol i like the vasectomy option too - they could have it done at school when they have their BCG vaccinations

The key figure is that the CONCEPTION rate is down by 10%. Doesn't necessarily mean that abortion rates make up the remaining 10% - miscarriage is sadly pretty common in the early weeks of pregnancy, isn't it?

Starlight, what is the 'reason' teenagers get pregnant? I think its pretty obvious, having sex without good contraception. What is your question about that?

I agree that abortion and contraception are NOT the same thing & should not be treated as the same thing. However, I'm pro-choice. I also believe that in most cases it isn't great at all when a 14-15-16 gets pregnant, not necessarily for the child she will bear but for herself. I do accept, of course I do, that some young mothers do an excellent, excellent job. So it's all very individual. But I also think that its better, and yes it is an achievement, if early, medically safe abortion is easily accessible & not stigmatised for those who want it / need it. In that way (if that is what Ed Balls is referring to) yes its an achievement.

yes bella it is, sadly, however i would have thought that this would remain a constant and woudlnt influence the data at all. What i want to know is, how are they measuring the conception rate if it isn't birth rate plus abortion rate?

would be interesting to find where the satts are got from.

i think probably taken from booking figure compared to delivery figures.

don't think miscarriage or termination numbers are gathered but i may be wrong.

Lucyellensmumma, so basically what you're saying is that abstinence is better. Well that's simply not realistic at all though (plus highly moralistic / ideologically loaded, who's to say someone is emotionally ready, what does that even mean to a passionate teenager?) Abstinence as a goal has never ever been successful, proper contraception (in most cases) is successful. Yes there are accidents but they are really rare if proper contraception is practiced. If I had a penny for every friend of mine who says they practice contraception but then have an accident & who by contraception mean 'counting the days' or 'pulling out at the last minute' or 'missing pills here & there' I would be a rich woman.

Again, not to say that genuine accidents don't happen. But I do believe they're rare.

No maria, i agree with you totally - i was saying, whilst absinance is obviously the better option, it is, as you say an unrealistic expectation and we should be educating our teenagers about safe sex. I just dont word it very well and yes, grown up women make contraception mistakes too

I remember the ribbing i took from DD1 when i sat her down and told her i was pregnant with DD2 because we were less than "careful".

Both of my children are accidents - both of them are my reason for living, vive le accident!

Conception is 10% down, let's say 100 girls got pregnant as a teen in 2008 (if only that were true figure!) it means that 90 girls got pregnant in 2009.

Of those 90 girls, compared to 2008 (or whatever, not sure what they're using as point of reference) actual births were down 20%. So for arguments sake, in 2008 50% of girls went on to have actual births, in 2009 30% of girls went on to have actual births.

That is my basic explanation/interpretation of the statistics, obviously with all the terms made up!

Just out of interest, who IS treating contraception and abortion of the same thing? I can't see anyone doing so on this thread or indeed in the public eye. Contraception is rammed down teenagers throats, it's done in school, tv adverts, magazines and hopefully at home. Unfortunately people don't always make responsible choices, teenagers and adults alike.

The side issue of Chlamydia is one that is also being positively tackled, free testing kits being sent out to all under 25 year olds, you just have to pee in a cup! They couldn't make it any easier. People WILL have unprotected sex, if you have a way to make sure every person who is sexually active always uses contraception then I'm sure the government and NHS would be delighted but let's face it, it's not going to happen.

I do understand that if you have been a teenage mother yourself and feel that it has been a positive experience then it must be difficult to come to the subject without a lot of emotion. I would be pissed off too if I kept hearing generalisations about teenage mums. The fact is, thoughm, that it is possible to generalise about the geenrally poor outcomes for all involved when people become poarents before they reach adulthood.

The vast majority of teenage mums do not go on to 'focus' on their careers. the position of responsibility they find themselves in may well change them for the better as people - make them harder working, more mature, more compassionate - but it nevertheless limits their life chances and those of their childrn in the majority of cases.

Young mothers more often than not face an interupted education - often it is the end of their education. They face low quality social housing and low paid work or a life-time on benefits.

This isn't just a fairy story. These are the facts.

Actually starlight, that is an excellent post and i totally agree with you, although it makes me very sad

Oh and here is the original release summary - this data is focusing on under 18s FWIW and there is a link to the raw date for actual figures.

The bottom line is teen pregnancies at the lowest rate for 20 years - that is something that we should be pleased with IMO.

Oh and as it states in the above link spending on contraception accessibility/education is almost £27million. I think that speaks volumes, it is clearly something that is being taken seriously.

yes, i know

I have just read that the labour party spent 280 million pounds of our money on the pledge to HALVE teenage pregnancies. They managed what? 10%??

1/10 must try harder!!

We still have the worst teen pregnancy rates in the whole of europe?

more indepth

It doesn't necessarily mean abortion has increased, it could be that the average age of such a pregnancy has increased and therefore more teenagers are crossing over from under 18 to over 18 by the time they give birth.

Will read the more in depth stats and perhaps back-track, but jumping to conclusions about abortion rate is wrong (whether you are pro choice or not).

I don't think that anyone has suggested abortion and contraception are the same thing, LEM>