ATLANTA- Teenage pregnancy is no longer dropping like it was earlier. The teen birth rate dropped consistently from 1991 to 2005 and went up from 2005-2007, declining again in 2008 by 2%. A government survey released on Wednesday has the answer to this.

The number of teen girls who say they use the rhythm method to avoid pregnancy is growing. More teens now think that it is alright for an unmarried female to have a child. Overall, use of birth control in teen age and teen attitudes toward pregnancy has remained about the same since 2002.

The new survey by the Centres fro Disease Control and Prevention, however, have some evident differences. Rhythm method is when females time their sex to avoid fertile days to prevent getting pregnant. In 2002 where 11 percent sexually experienced teen girls used the method, the number has gone up to 17 percent now.

The cause of worry here is that 25% of the times rhythm method does not work said Joyce Abma, the report's lead author, who is a social scientist at the CDC's National Centre for Health Statistics. The teens might have been using other birth control methods also at the same time.

Similar to the findings of 2002, 42 percent of never married teens said they have had sex at least once, out of which 98 percent used birth control, preferred choice being condoms. The results of the survey were based on face to face interviews of trained female interviewers with around 2,800 teen age females between the age of 15 and 19. The interviews happed at their homes between 2006 and 2008.

The survey was conducted at the same time when pregnancies of some teen females were in highlights, including Bristol Palin, the daughter of former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and Jamie Lynn Spears, Britney's kid sister. Also “Juno”, a 2007 movie, where a teen age female that accidentally gets pregnant has a happy ending, was very popular.
The recent trend of teen birth rate could be related to the popularity rhythm method is gaining among the teens.
"We've known the decline in childbearing stalled out. This report kind of fills in the why," said Bill Albert, a spokesman for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.

Teen attitude towards unmarried females to have children can be a big reason for this. Around 64 percent of boys say it’s OK, rising from a 50 percent in 2002, though the increase in female number was not significant. The number rose from 65 percent in 2002 to 70 percent now.

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