Idaho teen abortion rate among lowest

A teenage girl living in Idaho is far less likely to have an abortion than a teenage girl living in Washington, and more likely to have a baby, according to 2000 data in a new report by a nonprofit research group.

Idaho has one of the lowest teen abortion rates in the country. Only five states (West Virginia, Kentucky, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah) have lower teen abortion rates.

Fewer than 1 in 5 pregnant Idaho teenagers has an abortion. In Washington, 1 in 3 pregnant teenagers has an abortion.

The abortion rates in the report are based on the state of residence, not where the abortion occurred. That means Idaho’s rate includes the several hundred Idaho teens who travel out of state for abortions each year.

Abortion is more accessible to teenagers in Washington than in Idaho.

Sixty-seven percent of Idaho women live in counties without an abortion provider. North Idaho has no abortion providers, for example. Idaho also requires parental consent before a teenager can have an abortion, although a judge can waive the requirement.

In Washington, only 17 percent of women live in counties without an abortion provider. The state has no parental consent requirement.

The number of Idaho girls traveling out of state for abortions may be underreported, said C.J. Gribble, executive director of Planned Parenthood of the Inland Northwest, which provides abortions in Spokane and handles Idaho clients.

Teenagers can fill in any address they want, Gribble said. “We don’t ask people for their IDs.” The Spokane clinic also is not compelled to enforce Idaho’s parental consent law.

Preventing pregnancy

Federally funded family planning clinics help women of all ages who need contraceptives, but can’t afford them otherwise, according to the nonprofit Alan Guttmacher Institute, which published the report “Contraception Counts” last week.

Funding for Title X of the Public Health Service Act, the family planning program, has not kept up with inflation. Meanwhile, federal funding for abstinence-only prevention programs has swelled.

The biggest challenge faced by family planning clinics in North Idaho is coping with shrinking federal dollars, said Ella Gordon, coordinator of the five family planning clinics run by the Panhandle Health District. At the same time, costs are rising.

Thirty percent of the North Idaho clinics’ clients are teenagers. The clinics receive about $100,000 in federal dollars under Title X. Several years ago, Gordon said, the clinics received $160,000 from Title X.

The Putting Prevention First Act, co-sponsored by Washington Democrat Sen. Patty Murray and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, among others, seeks to double the funding for Title X. But the bill has drawn criticism from some conservative groups, such as Focus on the Family, who say it promotes promiscuity.

Teen pregnancy and poverty

Idaho’s teen abortion rate in the year 2000 was 10 per 1,000 women ages 15 to 19.

Washington’s teen abortion rate the same year was 26 per 1,000 women ages 15 to 19. Washington ranked 12th among the states, that is, only 11 states had higher teen abortion rates. New Jersey and New York topped the list.

Idaho also has a lower teen pregnancy rate than Washington, though both states’ rates are below the national average. Washington, with 75 in 1,000 girls getting pregnant annually, ranks 26th nationally in teen pregnancy rates. Idaho, with 62 in 1,000 girls getting pregnant annually, ranks 37th.

Despite its lower teen pregnancy rate, Idaho has a higher teen birth rate than Washington because more Idaho teen pregnancies result in births. Idaho’s teen birth rate is 43 per 1,000 women ages 15 to 19. Washington’s teen birth rate is 39 per 1,000 women ages 15 to 19.

Births to teenagers are closely linked with poverty, say groups working to lower teenage birth rates. In Idaho, 19.3 percent of children under 5 live in poverty. In Washington, 16.8 percent of children under 5 live in poverty.

“Is teen pregnancy a cause of poverty or a consequence of poverty? I suspect the truth is somewhere in the middle,” said Bill Albert, spokesman for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group in Washington, D.C.

Nationally, the teen birth rate has dropped 30 percent since 1991, which Albert said can be credited to “less sex and more contraception.” Teenagers are more cautious about sex, in part due to concern over sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV.

But 34 percent of the nation’s teen girls still get pregnant at least once before age 20 and the United States has the highest teen pregnancy and teen birth rates among industrialized nations.

In Washington’s 5th congressional district, 7,300 teenagers get help from family planning clinics each year, the Guttmacher report said. In Idaho’s 1st congressional district, 6,760 teenagers go to the clinics each year.

“I shudder to think if family planning would go away, what these women would do,” said Gordon of North Idaho’s Panhandle Health District. “It is mind-boggling what would happen with the unintended pregnancy rate.”