Calif. Teen Birth Rate Drops To Record Low; Experts Credit Comprehensive Sex Education, Health Services

California’s teenage birth rate reached a record low in 2008, with about 35 births for every 1,000 female teens, according to figures released Monday by the state Department of Public Health, the Los Angeles Times reports. In 2007, the rate was 37.1 births per 1,000 female teens…

Study Examines Reproductive Coercion Of Female Teens By Partners

About one in five female patients at family planning centers report experiencing reproductive coercion — pressure by a male partner through verbal threats, physical violence or birth control tampering to become pregnant, according to a study published in the journal Contraception, Newsweek reports…

Half Of Urban Teens Develop Common STIs Within Two Years Of First Sex, Study Finds

Half of female urban teens ages 14 through 17 contracted chlamydia, gonorrhea or trichomoniasis within two years of having sex for the first time, according to a new study published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Reuters reports. Researchers followed 386 teen girls for up to eight years…