Modbert
Daydream Believer
- Sep 2, 2008
- 33,178
- 3,055
- 48
Abortion and birth control: Crazy sexy stupid | The Economist
FAMILY planning and birth control is one of many areas where America has gotten itself wrapped up in a decades-long hysterical moralistic argument over issues whose solutions ought to be obvious to any mature adult. It's rather silly that we're still arguing over problems that were really settled by about 1977, but there you are.
Adoption is one thing. Birth control is a whole different kettle of fish. It's true that birth control is reasonably widely available in American drug stores. But the rate of usage of birth control is much lower in the United States than in Western Europe and the rest of the developed world. Hence, unsurprisingly, America's rates of teen pregnancy and unwanted pregnancy are much higher than in most other developed countries, as is America's rate of abortion.
The average age of sexual debut in America and Europe, she noted, is the same: 17. But America's teen pregnancy rate is three to six times higher than Western European rates. And our abortion rate is about three times as high as that of Germany or the Netherlands and about double that of France.
The first time they had sex, 64% of Dutch teens used hormonal birth control, ie the pill, Norplant, etc. Almost half used both hormonal birth control and a condom, which is what Dutch public-health authorities recommend. Just 26% of American teens were on hormonal birth control the first time they had sex. That may be related to the fact that 70% of American school health clinics are prohibited from distributing condoms or any other form of birth control.