According to a report released last Tuesday by the Guttmacher Institute, the number of abortions in the U.S. has continued to decline steadily since 1990. This decline has been the most dramatic among teen girls (younger than age 20). In fact, between 1989 and 2004, the abortion rate among teen girls decreased 53% (compared to 26% overall).

The proportion of abortions obtained by teen girls also dropped dramatically during the last three decades while the proportion of abortions to women age 20-24 has remained at roughly one-third since 1974. Furthermore, the majority of all abortions (57%) occur to women in their twenties. At the same time, 60% of all abortions occur to women who have already had at least one child.

Clearly unplanned pregnancy is not just a teen problem.

Terrifically important new research from our friends at the Guttmacher Institute on unplanned pregnancy.  From the press release:

"Publicly funded family planning clinics provide contraceptive services to approximately seven million women each year. Without these services, the annual number of unintended pregnancies and abortions in the United States would be almost 50% higher. In other words, 1.4 million unintended pregnancies and 600,000 abortions are averted each year because of these services... 

In addition to the clear benefits for individual women and their families in helping them avoid the pregnancies they do not want and plan the pregnancies they do, the analysis finds that these services save $4.3 billion in public funds. Nationally, for every $1.00 spent to provide services in the nationwide network of publicly funded family planning clinics, $4.02 in Medicaid expenses on births are averted."

Read the full report here and press release here.

I know, I know, provocative stories and breathless headlines about rainbow parties and middle school broom closet liasons almost always win out over staid research.  Even so, those interested in a heaping helping of sober should read a new analysis from Guttmacher about intimate teen sexual behavior. 

Primary finding?  When it comes to teens and oral/anal sex, things may not be as bad as many had feared but probably not as good as many had hoped. At the very least, the notion that a significant proportion of  virgin teens are out and about in the land protecting their virginity by substituting oral sex for intercourse seems to be a far-fetched notion.  Instead, not surprisingly, these activities tend to---as the social scientists might say---co-occur.

Back in September 2005, the National Campaign released a similar analysis of the icky stuff, check it out here.