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There’s new evidence that efforts to reduce teen pregnancies in Michigan are working.
The Michigan League for Public Policy has released a report saying Michigan realized a 40 percent decline in teen births over the past two decades.
Michigan’s rate of 24 births per 1,000 teens in 2013 was well below the national average of 27 per 1,000.
The report is part of the MLPP Kids Count project.
Alicia Guevara Warren of Kids Count says evidence based efforts have been working, but another contributing factor is that fewer teens are having sex.
And among those who do, more are using contraception.
However Warren says they continue to see low income communities have higher than average pregnancy rates.
There also continues to be racial disparities.
She says Michigan’s numbers, as good as they are, still lag behind other industrialized countries.
She says that means there needs to be a continued effort to deal with the problem.
