Today is The National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and, so, there's no better time to reflect on a few startling statistics about teen pregnancy.

In 2001, UNICEF conducted a survey of teenage birth rates in the industrialized world--it wanted to figure out why some rich countries have teenage birth rates that are ten or fifteen times higher than others. The United States ranks number one for teen moms, far outpacing the rest of the industrialized world--four times the European Union average and 60 percent higher than the rate in the United Kingdom, which came in second. In the 28 countries reviewed, there were 760,000 births to teenagers, two-thirds of which occurred in the United States. The United States is so bad at preventing pregnancy that it is the only rich nation smack in the middle of the Third World block for teen births--ranking just behind Thailand and directly before Rwanda.

Some countries have successfully reversed this trend. The Netherlands, for example, has reduced its teenage birthrate by a staggering 72 percent in thirty years while also having the lowest teenage abortion rates in the industrialized world. UNICEF reports “In general, studies of the Dutch experience have concluded that the underlying reason for success has been the combination of a relatively inclusive society with more open attitudes toward sex and sex education, including contraception.” For example, young people in the Netherlands “feel comfortable discussing sexuality in a warm, mutually supporting atmosphere” in which “requests for contraceptive services are not associated with shame or embarrassment” and in which “the media is willing to carry explicit messages designed for young people about contraceptive services.” The result is that teenagers who are having sex in the Netherlands see using of contraception “as ingrained as not going through a red light.” Interestingly, the Dutch approach hasn’t led to a sex-indulgent teenage culture, but rather, as the report concludes to a “higher average age at first intercourse.”

Another example of a country that had found a solution is Sweden. Beginning in 1975 Sweden radically reviewed its school sex-education curriculum. UNICEF reports, “abstinence and sex-only-within-marriage were dropped. Contraceptive education was made an explicit part of the school curriculum, and a nationwide network of youth clinics was established to provide confidential advice and free contraceptives to young people.” The Swedes took a practical, non-judgmental, approach their teenagers’ sexuality considering it “neither as desirable nor undesirable, but as inevitable—this being the case, teenagers’ use of contraceptives is viewed as highly desirable because it will prevent both childbearing and abortion.” As a result of these changes, Sweden has nearly half the teen abortion rate than that of the United States (17.7 vs. 30.2 per 1,000 teens).

Now that we have an administration not opposed to evidence-based solutions, we can once again consider the strategies proven to work to reduce teen pregnancy. We may not have to look far for them either. We witnessed a dramatic decline in teen pregnancies and births during the Clinton administration, a 36% drop, and that positive trend continued until just recently when CDC researchers discovered a spike in teen births in the Bush years, beginning in 2006 and continuing through 2007 (the latest year data is available.)

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy has the "What If Project" which explores how different the U.S. would be today if the dramatic decline had not happened. The organization reports,

"Declining teen birth rates have significantly improved overall child well-being in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, according to a new state-by-state analysis released by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Specifically, declines in the teen birth rate have had a direct impact on improving child poverty in all 50 states. That is, child poverty would have been worse in 2002 if state teen birth rates had not declined between 1991 and 2002."

In fact, they calculate that 8.3% more children would be living in poverty today as a result of being born to teen mothers if this decline had not taken place. More tax-payer dollars would have had to be devoted to services related to teen births too. In fact, the steady decline in the teen birth rate saved taxpayers an estimated $6.7 billion just in 2004 alone. Over the 13 years of decline, the number of years the National Campaign calculated the cost-savings, the American tax-payer saved $161 billion in estimated public costs associated with teen childbearing.

However, despite a one-third decline since the early 1990s, the United States still has the highest rates of teen pregnancy and birth among comparable countries. In fact, 3 in 10 girls in this country become pregnant by age 20. The financial costs associated with teen parenthood appear to be the least of our concerns. According to the National Campaign,

"Early pregnancy and childbearing is closely linked to a host of other critical social issues, including poverty and income disparity, overall child well-being, out-of-wedlock births, and education, to name just a few. Simply put, if more children in this country were born to parents who are ready and able to care for them, we would see a significant reduction in a host of social problems afflicting children in the United States, from school failure and crime to child abuse and neglect. If more children in this country were born to parents who are ready and able to care for them, we would see a significant reduction in a host of social problems afflicting children in the United States, from school failure and crime to child abuse and neglect."

Lucky for us, the Obama has made the reduction of teen pregnancy a priority of his administration. Time to dust off the book of proven remedies and get back to work.