Teen pregnancy rate drops 37% in Canada

Improved sex education and access to contraceptives under universal health care contributed to a drop of 37% in teen pregnancies between 1996 and 2006. The birth rate has dropped and the abortion rate has dropped, which means that better contraception is working.

Better access to contraception, higher quality sex education and shifting social norms have contributed to a 36.9 per cent decline in Canada’s teen birth and abortion rate between 1996 and 2006, according to a report released today by the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada.

Alexander McKay, Research Coordinator, Sex Information and Education Council of Canada, said:

“It’s important to look at teen pregnancy rates because they’re a basic fundamental indicator of young women’s sexual and reproductive health. While not all teen pregnancies are a bad thing, when we see [rates] dropping, it’s a fairly clear indicator that young women are doing increasingly well in terms of controlling and protecting their reproductive health,”

He went on:

“In comparison to the United States, we tend to have a more balanced, sensible approach to adolescent sexual health. Generally speaking what you find is that the more a society has an accepting attitude toward the reality of adolescent sexuality, the lower the teen pregnancy rate is. Canadians tend to have a more relaxed attitude towards adolescent sexuality than people in the United States.”

Mr. McKay said America’s emphasis on abstinence-only sex ed “tends to result in a higher percentage of teens becoming pregnant,” as does the country’s lack of universal health care. Poverty is another factor.

The report appears in the current issue of The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality.

Fetal development: 5 weeks pregnant

As pregnancy officially starts two weeks before the sperm hits the egg, this embryo just over three weeks old represents pregnancy at "five weeks." The spinal streak is closing and the somites, representing future muscles, are forming along it.

"What if your mother was pro-choice? Snappy answers

More from Alas, a Blog: "What if your mother was pro-choice?"

Kai writes:

I know my mother was pro-choice. She had an abortion at age 16, gave up her next child for adoption at age 19, and then had me at age 21.

She also took me to the doctor for my safe, legal abortion when I was 16.

Courtney writes:

It’s weird because I am here because of abortion. My mother got pregnant by my biological father (whom I never met) and had an abortion under pressure. Then a couple of months later she got pregnant with me and refused to have another abortion. She’s been pro-life ever since. It is weird to think that I wouldn’t be here if abortion had been illegal and the question of, “What if your mother had an abortion?” never takes into account that some of us are here because of it.

Alsis writes:

“Your mother was pro-life”. I guess that’s the selected slogan because “We Claim Your Body In The Name of Jesus And Your Mom’s Is Ours Retroactively, Too” would be a tad too long-winded. Ah, well. The short version is quite repugnant enough in its tone, thankyouverymuch.

Dianne adds:

And I suppose “All your uterus are belonging to us” just didn’t have the right ring to it.

Odanu writes:

My pro-choice mother conceived me as the indirect result of having an abortion. She had two healthy sons and was eagerly trying to get pregnant again. She succeeded, and several weeks later contracted Rubella (German measles). Given the level of medical knowledge at that time (mid 1960s) it was presumed that the child would almost certainly be born profoundly disabled. After consulting with her doctor, her preacher, her husband, and her mother, she made the decision (legal in Vermont at that time) to have an abortion. Three months later, I was conceived (against doctor’s orders, I might add — she’d been instructed to wait six months before trying again).

If my pro-choice mother had not chosen to have an abortion, I would not have been born. Makes my stance on abortion almost predestined.

Astrea writes:

It amazes me how some Christian anti-choicers can simultaneously believe that god controls everything and has a grand plan for everyone and that a choice by an individual woman in a brief moment in time could screw it all up by denying one potential person an existance.

Grace writes

Another Hitler baby here!! Three of my four grandparents were engaged to other people when WWII started. My American grandfather married my Dutch grandmother in a DP camp.

Kyra writes:

My response is “I don’t know if she was or not. However, I am tremendously thankful that my existance is not due to my mother’s enslavement by the pro-life agenda!”

In actuality, I exist partially because my mother’s doctor found her choice to be worth upholding. She had endometriosis, and when they removed the offending tissue he went out of his way to see that she could still have a chance at becoming pregnant, because this was important to her.

dorktastic writes:

This was always my favourite when I was a volunteer clinic escort. My response was always that both my parents are pro-choice, and both were involved in the struggle to decriminalize abortion in Canada. And it wasn’t just my parents - when my grandmother died, I was given her buttons and t-shirts from when she was a pro-choice activist.

Josh Jasper writes:

My mother is pro-choice. She nearly died during the course of an ectopic pregnancy, and is sterile because it wasn’t aborted sooner.

Before that, when she was pregnant with me, she sued the state of NY for the right to teach while more than 3 months pregnant. And won.

My mother is my inspiration as a feminist. She rocks!

Mythago adds:

Q: What if your mother had been pro-choice?
A: I’d have been killed in a state of total innocence, and I’d be in heaven with God and the angels right now.

Lee writes:

I was discussing this post with my mother this past weekend, and discovered to my surprise that she is far more pro-choice than I am.