Experts attribute lowest number of California teen births in 20 years to sex education course in high school. Fundamentalists respond by plugging their ears and yelling "We can't hear you!"

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

California’s teen birth rate has plummeted to the lowest level that it’s been in the past 20 years, according to new data from the state’s health department. The state’s rate now stands at 28 births for every 1,000 teenage girls — a 60 percent drop since 1991, when the rate peaked at 70.9 births for every 1,000 girls. 

Public health experts directly attribute this success to state laws that require California’s public schools to offer comprehensive sex ed classes with scientifically accurate information about birth control. State officials also credited family planning programs that provide community-based resources to teens. “We do believe that our programs are behind these numbers,” Karen Ramstrom, the chief of the program standards branch at the California Department of Public Health’s maternal child and adolescent health division, told the Los Angeles Times. 

That’s in line with national trends. As a whole, the United States’ teen pregnancy rate has been plummeting to record lows, largely because teens are gaining better access to contraceptive methods and opting to use birth control as soon as they become sexually active. And research suggests that community-based youth programs are one of the most effective strategies of instilling teens with healthy attitudes and safe approaches toward sexuality. 

But progress in this area isn’t uniform across every area of the country. While states like California are making huge gains, the teen pregnancy rate remains stubbornly high in the South. Adolescents there tend to receive ineffective abstinence education, and they’re more likely to lack access to birth control resources.

Gee who da thunk it?

Providing comprehensive education AND access to birth control actually LOWERS the teen birth rate? Amazing.

As we well know these statistics will have little impact on the conservatives whose four part strategy will essentially remain, "No, no, no don't do that!"

Followed by, "Oh well now you've done it!"

And then of course, "Nope, gotta have it!"

And then finally, "No we will not help you. We only care about the fetus BEFORE it is born. Good luck slut"