Providing teenagers with free, long-acting methods of contraception can cut their birth and abortion rates nearly in half, according to a yearslong experiment conducted by the the state of Colorado.

The New York Times reports that the abortion rate for teenagers in Colorado dropped by 42 percent from 2009 to 2013 after the state offered them free intrauterine devices and contraceptive implants, which can prevent pregnancies for years, through a private grant program. The birth rates among teenagers and another demographic -- unmarried women under 25 who did not complete high school -- also dropped by about 40 percent in the same period.

Colorado's Birth Control Success Sheds Light On Debate In Congress (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/06/birth-control-abortion_n_7738894.html?utm_hp_ref=politics)

Another ahead of the curve point for Colo.

Smart right there

So it lowers teen pregnancies which in turn lowers the poverty rate, it reduces the abortion rate, and saves Colorado money? These are all things conservatives love. They should be all over this, right? When the donated grant funding was drying up, Colorado GOP members balked at putting any state funding to this program. If you cant see the positives of this, you dont think logically. And using logic should be the top characteristic for any legislator.

This is one area in particular that drives me mad as a conservative, that some older people want to bury their head in the sands and not support measures like this, and instead try and teach abstinence. Um, kids are gonna have sex, you best do your best to protect them, rather than be naive.

I don't know why it's so hard for kids to be abstinent. Take it from me, all you have to do is come to school in a Star Trek uniform one time and you won't have a problem.

I think the birth rate being lower has less to do with the birth control, and more about the growing number of granola girls that live in Colorado.

I don't know why it's so hard for kids to be abstinent. Take it from me, all you have to do is come to school in a Star Trek uniform one time and you won't have a problem.

I don't know about that, look at all the women Kirk got.

I think the birth rate being lower has less to do with the birth control, and more about the growing number of granola girls that live in Colorado.

Trust me - as a pediatrician I can tell you that even granola girls and well-educated girls get pregnant. Adolescence is a wonderful time - of magical thinking - "If I don't want this to happen, it won't." Birth control and education on its proper use are critical.

I was just telling my medical students yesterday about one of my favorite delivery room stories. There was a young girl, 15 to 16, who was in the delivery room with birth imminent. She turned to her mother and said, "I've changed my mind. I don't want to have a baby."

my comment was meant as a joke, nothing serious about it

Trust me - as a pediatrician I can tell you that even granola girls and well-educated girls get pregnant. Adolescence is a wonderful time - of magical thinking - "If I don't want this to happen, it won't." Birth control and education on its proper use are critical.

I was just telling my medical students yesterday about one of my favorite delivery room stories. There was a young girl, 15 to 16, who was in the delivery room with birth imminent. She turned to her mother and said, "I've changed my mind. I don't want to have a baby."

So true, and even though I trashed the abstinence theory earlier in this thread, I think it's still worth teaching, but not as the ONLY method against teen pregnancy. I'm sure once my daughter gets older this will get tougher.

And of course, the teenage pregnancy rates in Oklahoma are among the highest in the nation.

Yet, we'll continue to just preach abstinence and be on the wrong side of yet another public health issue.

And of course, the teenage pregnancy rates in Oklahoma are among the highest in the nation.

Yet, we'll continue to just preach abstinence and be on the wrong side of yet another public health issue.

For consolation, Oklahoma has one of the lowest abortion rates of the states.

I don't know about that, look at all the women Kirk got.

That's what I thought too!

It's like "ladies, try and restrain yourselves..." And somehow they did.

That's what I thought too!

It's like "ladies, try and restrain yourselves..." And somehow they did.

Now hoya, if you'd only had a sugar mama to pay ladies to pretend to be with you and like it, you might have a ST:TOS shirt with sweaty pretend memories just like James T had