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SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

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The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

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Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

MN Teen Pregnancy, Birth Rates Fall to Historic Lows

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Friday, April 25, 2014   

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Some good news from a just-released report from Teenwise Minnesota, showing the teen pregnancy and birth rates in the state have fallen to historic lows.

Jill Farris, Teenwise’s director of Training and Education, says the rates were at their peaks in the early 1990s, but have been dropping steadily since.

"The pregnancy rate has declined about 58 percent in that time period and adolescent birth rates have gone down in that time period about 50 percent,” she says. “So, we're really encouraged by the progress that we've seen over the last couple of decades."

Farris attributes the declines to more young people using effective contraception and using it regularly, along with a growing number of teens who are waiting longer to become sexually active.

Farris says another positive from the report is that the chlamydia rate for teens fell between 2012 and 2013, the first such decline among that age group in 15 years.

"It is important to know, though, that overall the rate has gone up about 50 percent in the last decade,” she adds. “So, we're encouraged that it has gone down for one year, but at the same time we will be watching the numbers closely to see if this is kind of an aberration, or if it continues in a downward trajectory."

And while some may view the issue of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and teen pregnancy as one mainly for the Twin Cities, Farris notes young people are affected throughout the state.

"And in fact, the highest rates of pregnancy and birth that we see are actually not in the Metro area,” she points out. “They're all in rural Minnesota counties.

“Similarly, with chlamydia and gonorrhea rates, we certainly do see a lot of counties in Greater Minnesota that are affected and have really high rates among young people."

The entire 2014 Minnesota Adolescent Sexual Health report is available online at the Teenwise Minnesota website.





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