The US has experienced a rise in teenage births - the first in a long time. Some are saying it is a blip - others a reversal of a tend.
NZ figures are just the same. 2006 showed a marked increase over 2005. And the year-to-date Sept 2007 data showed a further increase.(Interesting that the Herald has printed the US story but ignored our own).
Without knowing more details - which ethnicity and socio-economic class are more affected, the teenage pregnancy and abortion rates for the same period - it is difficult to say what is causing this rise. But it is, for both countries, part of an overall increase in fertility.
Abstinence opponents are grasping on the idea that the rise in the US is a reaction to not being taught about contraception. Maybe. But we haven't had the abstinence drive here.
What role is welfare playing? Again difficult to say when each US state does it's own thing and can exempt up to 20 percent of welfare recipients from time-limits.
Then again, is there any point in trying to compare two countries with different ethnic make-ups?
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It is the jumping to conclusions that makes pointless the comparisons between two countries of different ethnic make-up.
The dispassionate perusal,however, may reveal something worthy of closer examination.
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