NATIONAL BRIEFING / NATIONWIDE
The rate at which teenage girls in the United States are having babies has risen for a second year in a row, government statistics show, putting one of the nation’s most successful social and public health campaigns in jeopardy.
Nationally, the birth rate among 15- to 19-year-olds rose 1.4% from 2006 to 2007, continuing a climb that began a year earlier. The rate jumped 3.4% in 2006, reversing what had been a 14-year decline.
The reasons for the increase remain unclear, although experts speculated that it could be due to growing complacency about AIDS and teen pregnancy, among other factors.
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