Seattle Schools Community Forum: Who Knew? Free Birth Control = Fewer Teen Moms

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Who Knew? Free Birth Control = Fewer Teen Moms:

Who Knew? Free Birth Control = Fewer Teen Moms

by Melissa Westbrook

From the AP:

Free birth control led to substantially lower rates of abortions and teen births, a large study concluded Thursday, offering strong evidence for how a contested Obama administration policy could benefit women's health.

The project tracked more than 9,000 women in St. Louis, many of them poor or uninsured. They were given their choice of a range of contraceptive methods at no cost — from birth-control pills to goofproof options such as the IUD or a matchstick-size implant.

The effect on teen pregnancy was striking: There were 6.3 births per 1,000 teenagers in the study. Compare that to a national rate of 34 births per 1,000 teens in 2010.

There also were substantially lower rates of abortion, when compared with women in the metro area and