Birth Rates for Teens Fall in ‘94, 3rd Year in Row

Birth rates for teenagers declined by 1% in 1994, the third straight drop, the Clinton administration said Monday in an election-year report that cited the numbers as evidence of progress in combating a major social problem.

The Health and Human Services Department said figures compiled for 1994 show that 505,488 babies were born to 15- to 19-year-old mothers, a rate of 58.9 per 1,000 population. That’s more than the 501,093 births the year before. But the birth rate was lower than the 1983 rate of 59.6 per 1,000 because there were more teenage girls.

“The president understands that teen pregnancy is one of the greatest problems facing our nation and he has demonstrated leadership and taken action to help solve it,” HHS Secretary Donna Shalala said, linking the report directly to President Clinton’s family values campaign theme.

The department said that Clinton has proposed a $30-million program to support community-based prevention efforts in cities with high teen pregnancy rates. And the department said that it had funded 15 pilot programs in the last year aimed at preventing early sexual activity.

The figures on teenage births were contained in a massive statistical report on virtually all aspects of reproduction issued by the National Center for Health Statistics. It showed that the 1994 birth rate for teenagers was down 5% from its recent peak in 1991 but still was higher than it had been in any year from 1974 to 1989.