Teenage Pregnancies Lowest Since Records Began in 1969

Another alleged symptom we're told to believe indicates that society is going down hill is the supposed moral implications of the number of teenage pregnancies in the country since the sexual revolution of the late 1960s. The number of teenage pregnancies is going up, right? Wrong.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) report in April 2013, teenage pregnancies are the lowest since records began in 1969, the year of the Summer of Love. The estimated number of conceptions to women aged under 18 in 2011 was 31,051. This compares with 45,495 conceptions in 1969, a decrease of 32%.

A quick graph of quarterly figures for England & Wales, which have only been kept since 1998, shows the most recent drop from 11,201 teenage pregnancies per quarter in March 1998 to just 5,587 per quarter in September 2013, a drop of more than half:

Source: ONS Figures

The most recent yearly figure then is 27,834 teenage pregnancies in 2012, compared to 45,495 in 1969 which is actually a drop of nearly 39% since 1969. 

Something to consider when next the debate about how sex education regarding contraception these days is encouraging irresponsibility!