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likely than older women to receive Birth Rates for Teen-Agers timely prenatal care or gain the rec- ommended weight during their preg- nancy, and much more likely to Declined Sharply in the 90's smoke and have a low-birthweight infant, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. By TAMAR LEWIN sexual intercourse at ever-earlier The level of teen-age births was In a trend that some credit mostly ages - a trend extending from the far higher in the 1950's and 1960's: to abstinence education and others to 1950's, when 27 percent of women the historic high point for such births better use of contraception, teen-age turning 18 had had sex, to the mid- was 1957, when there were 96 births birth rates nationwide declined sub- 1980's. when 56 percent had done so. per 1,000 women ages 15 to 19. But in stantially from 1991 to 1996. Pregnancy and abortion rates those days. the vast majority of teen- According to the National Center among teen-agers are dropping, too, age mothers were married, while for Health Statistics. the sharpest but there is no consensus about what today, the vast majority are single. declines were among black teen- is behind those declines. Teen-age birth rates vary greatly agers, until recently the group with Conservative groups, like Focus on the highest level of births. the Family, in Colorado, say that by state, with many Northern states While black teen-agers still have abstinence education turned the tide. like Vermont, New Hampshire, Min- babies at almost twice the rate of 'We believe abstinence has played nesota, North Dakota, Maine and whites, their birth rate declined 21 the central role in what's happen- Massachusetts having fewer than 35 percent from 1991 to/1996, and is now ing," said Amy Stephens, a spokes- births per 1.000 teen-age women. less at the lowest level ever reported. woman for Focus on the Family. than half the rate of Southern and There were 91.7 births for every "Privately funded abstinence pro- Western states like Alabama, Ari- 1,000 black teen-age women ages 15 grams started in the late 1980's and went on in the 1990's. and now there zona. Georgia. Mississippi. New to 19 in 1996, while whites had 48.4 is Federal funding for programs that Mexico. and Texas. The District of per 1,000, and Hispanic teen-agers had 101.6. give kids a direct message about Columbia has the highest teen-age what we want them to do. Kids re- birth rate, 105.5 births for every 1,000 "What's significant is that these spond when they get a direct mes- women ages 15 to 19, down from 114.4 declines are in every state." said Donna E. Shalala, Secretary of sage instead of the mixed message in 1991. Health and Human Services. "I give that if you're going to have sex, you Despite the declining rates, the should use a condom, but oh, also, we United States still has by far the a lot of credit to the African-Ameri- highest rate of teen-age births of any can community, which has put out a don't think you should have sex." clear, consistent message from the But groups like the Alan Gutt- macher Institute, a nonprofit re- industrialized nation. churches. the schools and all sorts of civic organizations, a drumbeat to search and education group in New Ms. Sawhill's group released re- young women and young men that York, emphasize the effects of better search yesterday showing that par- they should not become parents until contraception. ents have great influence on teen- they are truly ready to support a "Now that the level of sexual activ- agers' sexual decision-making. child, that having children too carly ity is not increasing. we're seeing the The group said parents could help will limit their options." result of more widespread and more prevent teen-age pregancy by talk- Over all, in 1996, the teen-age birth ing candidly to their children about rate was 54.7 for every 1,000 young effective contraceptive use," said sex from an early age and being women ages 15 to 19, down 11.9 per- Jacqueline E. Darroch, the insti- clear about their own values, super- cent from the 1991 rate of 62.1. tute's senior vice president for re- vising their adolescents' after-school Although the 1996 numbers were search. "The proportion of sexually activities, discouraging one-on-one previously reported as part of the active teen girls using contraception, dating before age 16, and stopping Centers for Disease Control and Pre- even at first intercourse, is increas- teen-agers from dating anyone who vention's vital statistics report last ing. My sense of why the black teens' is not within two or three years of fall, the special five-year report Dr. birth rate is declining the fastest is their own age. Shalala issued yesterday placed a that they are the most likely to use spotlight on the decline in teen-age long-lasting contraceptives like Nor- births. plant and DepoProvera, which are Isabel Sawhill, president of the Na- very reliable." tional Campaign to Prevent Teen Nearly 500,000 babies were born to Pregnancy, a private nonpartisan those ages 15 to 19 in 1996 and 11,000 initiative, said: "Birth rates went up more to girls 14 and under. sharply from 1986 to 1991, and then they started coming down again. No- Teen-age mothers are much less body knows for sure why this is oc- curring. We're not sure why they popped in the first place, and any- thing that pops up can pop down again. But we do know that behind this drop in birth rates is both an increase in contraception and a re- duction in sexual activity, the first reduction in decades and decades." Experts of every political stripe heralded the declines and agreed that the last few years were the end of an era in which teen-agers started The New York Times FRIDAY. MAY 1, 1998