Statement by Leslie Kantor, National Director of Education, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, on New CDC Report Showing Disparity in Teen Birthrates by States

Planned Parenthood Federation of America issued the following statement today regarding a new CDC report showing disparity in teen birthrates by states:

The full CDC report can be found HERE.

“This new CDC report makes it crystal clear that the teen birthrate is lower in states that provide students with comprehensive, evidence-based sex education.  The report demonstrates that the surest way to reduce teenage pregnancy is to provide young people with comprehensive, medically accurate sex education, and doing so is especially urgent for African-American and Latino teens, who are getting pregnant more frequently than other young people.  

“Sex educators like Planned Parenthood are poised to make tremendous progress in reducing teen pregnancy, because for the first time in American history the federal government has ensured that federal funds will be used primarily by states and community organizations that provide evidence-based sex education to reduce teen pregnancy.  This is a radical change from the Bush administration, which favored and funded abstinence-only sex education.  The Obama administration’s allocation of $155 million for evidence-based sex education represents a true turning point in the history of sex education in the United States.

“Planned Parenthood is the single largest provider of sex education in communities across the United States.  Every year, Planned Parenthood physicians and nurses see nearly 675,000 teenagers who come to our health centers to get help in making informed decisions about their sexual health.  Moreover, millions of American teenagers seek medically accurate information on Planned Parenthood’s website, http://www.plannedparenthood.org/.” 

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