Red States Win The Race For Most Teenage Pregnancies

Well, it looks like abstinence-only and bible studies aren't working very well. Many of the same states that went for the GOP in the last election are now leading the nation in teenage pregnancy (check out the two charts below).



According to new stats released by the CDC this week, Mississippi now has the nation's highest teen birth rate, displacing Texas for that lamentable title. Mississippi's rate was more than 60 percent higher than the national average in 2006, according to new state statistics released Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The teen birth rate for that year in Texas was more than 50 percent higher.

Some experts have blamed the national increase on increased federal funding for abstinence-only health education that does not teach teens how to use condoms and other contraception. They said that would explain why teen birth rate increases have been detected across much of the country and not just in a few spots.