One state has found a way to significantly reduce teen pregnancy rates. But is its solution realistic for the rest of the United States?
Colorado's teen birth rate dropped 40 percent between 2009 and 2013, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment announced this week, in part due to a program that provides long-acting contraception to low-income women.
Colorado's Family Planning Initiative provided funding for 68 family clinics across the state to offer around 30,000 intrauterine devices and implants to young women at low or no cost. An IUD is a small T-shaped device that is inserted into the uterus by a doctor. They're either wrapped in copper or contain hormones, which kill sperm and make the uterine lining too thin for egg implantation. Because IUDs stay in place for five to 10 years, they're easier to comply with than taking daily birth control pills.
An anonymous donor funded the $23 million initiative, which also provided training, outreach and technical assistance to clinics statewide.
The state health department conducted a study, to be published in the fall issue of Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, to analyze the program's impact. It found that the low-cost IUDs were a significant factor in the state's overall decrease in teen births.
http://www.local10.com/thats-life/health/colorado-teen-birthrate-drops-40/26880394
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