Bringing The World Home To You

© 2024 WUNC North Carolina Public Radio
120 Friday Center Dr
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919.445.9150 | 800.962.9862
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

NC Teen Pregnancies At Decades Low, Thanks In Part To Contraception

Birth control pill
Lee Health
/
vimeo commons
Research shows that teen pregnancy rates are at an all time low due in large part to increased use of contraception.

Teen birth rates in North Carolina are at a historic low, according to a statistical brief from the State Center for Health Statistics. 

For teenagers aged 15-19, the birth rate has fallen 62 percent since 1996. National research shows this decline is due in large part to increased use of contraception and better access to long-acting contraception.

Host Frank Stasio talks about the scientific data and psychological underpinnings of adolescent sexual behavior with Carolyn Halpern, professor and chair of the department of maternal and child health in the Gillings School of Global Public Health at UNC Chapel Hill.

He is also joined by Elizabeth Finley, director of strategic communications at SHIFT NC (Sexual Health Initiatives for Teens), to discuss how nonprofits and state programs provide sexual education and resources in the state.

Anita Rao is an award-winning journalist, host, creator, and executive editor of "Embodied," a weekly radio show and podcast about sex, relationships & health.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.