Facts on Teenage Pregnancy and Sexual Health: Mississippi and U.S.
Fact: Teens today are less likely to be sexually active than they were in the early 1990s.
Over the same time period, teens have become more likely to use contraception and condoms. The combination of less
sex and more contraception has reduced the teen birth rate to a 40 year low. Dramatic declines in the teen birth rate
are due to fewer teens getting pregnant to begin with, not fewer teens giving birth. Between 2007 and 2011, the teen
birth rate in Mississippi among girls ages 15-19 declined 28%. The U.S. teen birth rate declined 25% between those same
years for girls ages 15-19. Source: CDC Data Brief 123
Fact: Mississippi has the second highest teen birth rate in the nation. Arkansas has the highest teen birth rate: 50.7.
In 2011 the teen birth rate was 50.2, which means approximately 50 girls for every thousand in the age range of 15-19
gave birth in 2011. United States teen birth rate was 31.3. Majority (68%) of teen births are to older teens—ages 18 and
19. Sources: CDC Data Brief 123 and Mississippi State Department of Health Vital Statistics Teen Birth Data 2011.
Fact: Mississippi teens have higher rates of sexual activity than teens nationwide.
 58% of Mississippi high school teens have had sex but nearly 7 in 10 have had sex by end of the 12th grade.
Nationwide, 47% of U.S high school students have had sex.
 In Mississippi, 35% of high school students did not use a condom the last time they had sex.
 Although 15-24 year olds make up 15% of Mississippi’s population, they represent 76% of all chlamydia cases
and 70% of all gonorrhea cases.
 Source: CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2011
Fact: Mississippi’s sex education law bans condom demonstrations in the classroom and requires parents to “opt-in”
their teenager by signing a permission form.
Opponents of abstinence-plus often scare people by saying there will be “condom relays” and “condom
demonstrations” but this is 100% false. Mississippi law explicitly bans condom demonstrations and instruction. Because
the Mississippi Department of Education approves all curricula, school districts can be assured the curricula meets the
state law requirements. Source: HB 999, Mississippi’s sexuality education law (2011).
Fact: Schools want abstinence-plus sex education. In 2012, 47% of Mississippi school districts adopted an abstinenceplus policy.
Mississippi mandates that public schools teach sex education. Of the state’s 152 school districts, 81 adopted an
abstinence-only policy and 71 adopted an abstinence-plus policy. Source: Mississippi First.
Fact: Mississippi parents support abstinence-plus sex education.
According to a 2011 parent survey by Mississippi State University, 92% of Mississippi parents support sex education in
public schools. Of the 92% of parents who support sex education, 90.9% support sex education that includes information
about getting tested for STDs and HIV and 90% support a comprehensive discussion of birth control methods (how to
use, where to get). Source: Center for Mississippi Health Policy.
Fact: Teens say that their parents are the most important influence when it comes to their decisions about sex.
However, according to the Mississippi State University parent survey in 2011, only 55% of fathers and 63% of mothers in
Mississippi report talking to their teen about sex. Source: Center for Mississippi Health Policy.
Fact: Most teenagers were close in age to their male partner when they first had sex.
The majority (68%) of teen births are to older teens—ages 18 and 19. Most young women (70%) who first had sex as a
teenager were relatively close in age to their first male partner. However, teen girls who were particularly young when
they first had sex –14 or younger—are more likely to have had an older male partner. Of these younger teen girls, 51%
had a partner who was three or more years older. Source: National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned
Pregnancy Freeze Frame Report (page 13 of report). There were 97 births to teens 14 and under in 2011 in Mississippi.
www.womensfundms.org. August 2013
Fact: Most of the economic costs of teen pregnancy are due to the lost tax revenue of the children of teen moms.
Taxpayer cost of teen births in Mississippi in 2009: $155 million. Most of the public sector costs of teen childbearing are
associated with the negative outcomes for the children of teen mothers. Source: Taxpayer Cost of Teen Births Report by
Women’s Fund of Mississippi and Mississippi Economic Policy Center.
For more information, please call Jamie Bardwell at 601-326-0701 or email jamie@womensfundms.org.
Women’s Fund of Mississippi
www.womensfundms.org
www.womensfundms.org. August 2013