Teen pregnancy and abortion rates down, but STIs steady and rising, Lorrayne Anthony, Canadian Press Release, July 19, 2007
Karen
Jul 19 05:46 PM US/Eastern
LORRAYNE ANTHONY
TORONTO (CP) - The teen pregnancy and abortion rates in Canada are the
lowest in more than a decade, but that doesn't mean the country's
youth is practising safe sex.
A recent study shows the pregnancy rate for Canadian teens 15-to 19-
years-old has been on a continuous decline, dropping from 49.2
pregnancies per 1000 in 1994 to 32.1 in 2003.
Abortion rates have shown a similar trend in the same time frame,
dropping from 22.1 to 17.1 in 2003.
But in what seems like a contradiction, the same social climate that
gave rise to fewer pregnancies and abortion may also be responsible
for an increasing rate of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), that
includes chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, human papillomavirus (HPV)
and HIV.
Alex McKay, the research co-ordinator at the Sex Information and
Education Council of Canada, authored the study on teen pregnancy
which was published in the spring. He said the declining numbers imply
an overall improvement in sexual health among teens.
"It's pretty clear that a declining teen pregnancy rate is a signal
that not only are young women increasingly empowered but also that
they are making positive decisions around things like employment
opportunities, educational aspirations, and are living in an
environment where they are able to pursue those kinds of things," he
said.
In his study, McKay looked at teenage birth and abortion rates in
Canada, the United States and Britain. While all three countries
showed a decline in both, Canada had the lowest birth and abortion
among teens.
Feminists, who have spent decades working to ensure future generations
of women had the opportunity to control their own destinies and sexual
health, are now able to take pride in their accomplishments.
"The woman's movement fought for many years for sex education in the
schools, for available and affordable birth control and for the right
to abortion. We won those demands, probably more successfully than
anywhere else in the world," said social activist Judy Rebick, former
president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women.
"And now it is paying off."
But the dividends don't extend into all areas of sexual health. In
another study, the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada
found that "STIs disproportionately affect adolescents."
The chlamydia rate, for example, rose from 1095.1 infections per
100,000 in 1991 to 1378.6 in 2002.
Chlamydia infections increase the risk of HIV infection and, if
untreated, can result in pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility and
ectopic pregnancy.
The study reported 40 per cent to 70 per cent of chlamidial infections
have no noticeable symptoms, which means the rate is most likely
higher than reported.
"However, it is very clear from the available data from many sources
from Canada and other countries, the actual prevalence of chlamydia
among the youth and young adult population may not be increasing but
is remaining stable at a dangerously high level," McKay said
And experts feel serial monogamy may be to blame.
McKay said that, for the most part, younger teens take safe sex very
seriously.
It's when teens get older and involved in more serious relationships
that condoms are replaced with birth-control pills.
While pregnancies are avoided, the couples no longer practice safe
sex.
Stephanie Sersli, manager executive services at Options for Sexual
Health in Vancouver, agrees that once teens are committed in a
relationship, they tend to use oral contraception, yet fail to get
tested for STIs.
"I don't think we've gotten to the point where regular STI testing is
considered an integral part of your sexual health," she said from
Vancouver.
"Women know they need to go for a Pap (test) every year and that's
just a regular part of your maintenance. I don't think we've gotten to
that point with STI testing yet."
She said sexual health educators and advocates need to help change
that mentality and make STI testing a part of a yearly check up.
Rebick believes couples - young and old - have a blind trust when it
comes to love.
"People have this illusion that if they're are in a monogamous
relationship, they're not at risk of (sexually transmitted
infections)," she said. "But of course monogamous relationships don't
always stay that way."
McKay said that once a relationship ends, the person usually falls
into another committed relationship and condom use again gives way to
oral contraception.
When you take into account most Canadians start sexual relationships
at 16 and put off marriage until their mid-to-late twenties, he said
most Canadians are serial monagamists, having unprotected sex with
several partners in their lifetime.
The Canadian Press, 2007
Karen
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/health/070719/x071913A.html
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/health/070517/x051717A.html
July 26th, 2007
Letter to the Editor of the Canadian Press
I am writing to express concern over the Canadian Press reporting of
teen abortion statistics.
A July 19th press release written by Lorrayne Anthony entitled "Teen
Pregnancy and abortion rates down, but STI's steady and rising" gives
the teen abortion rate for Canada as 17.1. This figure is a rate of
teen abortion per 1000 women aged 15-19.[1]
An earlier Canadian Press release from May 2007 by an unnamed author
entitled "Teen pregnancy rate at all-time low, sexually transmitted
infections up" gives pregnancy numbers that allow a unit ratio of 54.4
to be calculated: "33,000 teens get pregnant each year, with 18,000
abortions in that age group." The unit ratio of 54.4 is approximate
and represents the ratio of abortions to pregnancies.
The layperson will naturally understand abortions in the context of
pregnancies. The headline of Lorrayne Anthony's article refers to teen
pregnancy and abortion rates together. While scientists doing
population studies can find meaning in abortion rates per 1000 women,
the general public cannot. It is natural to think of an abortion rate
as being a measure of pregnancies aborted. I would ask the Canadian
Press to always report ratios of abortions to pregancies.
Thus, the rate of 17.1 abortions per 1000 women and the rate of 32.1
pregnancies per 1000 women in the same year (2003) should be expressed
for the layman as a meaningful unit ratio of 17.1 / 32.1 or 53%. With
pregnancies, the media often goes to the trouble to calculate unit
ratios and absolute numbers. For instance, a rate of pregnancy for
each woman over her lifetime would be expressed as perhaps '1.5'. I
think it behooves the Canadian Press to do the same sort of work when
reporting abortion. Report abortions as the number of abortions over a
lifetime or between-the-ages-of, and as a unit ratio of abortions per
pregnancies. Rates per 1000 are meaningless except to population
statisticians and health policy makers.
There is still more to criticize in your organization's reporting of
teen pregnancy and abortion. When considering pre-natal numbers it is
vitally important to recognize the very different outcomes for women
in Urban centres. Toronto is the largest birth centre in Canada.
Toronto teens experienced significantly higher rates of abortion and
pregnancy than Ontario overall. This trend holds true for most of the
main provincial urban centres (notable variance in Hamilton, Ontario).
Therefore abortion reporting should always be divided between Urban
and Other centres. The sources for these figures must be the
provincial Ministries of Health and City and Provincial Public Health
Departments who have access to city level reporting from the
Therapeutic Abortion Database maintained by CIHI. Your health
reporters cannot have access to this data at the city level due to
provincial and federal privacy legislation and will only be able to
confirm statistics by province overall using Stats Can tables which do
not as yet report by Urban Centre. I encourage the Canadian Press to
request that CIHI and Stats Can provide free statistical tables of
abortions by Urban Centre (any city over 100,000 in population) in
order to satisy the ongoing public need for this data.
Another problem of reporting teen abortion concerns the distinctions
that should be made within the age category of 15-19.
"Teen age subgroups (15 to 17 and 18 to 19). Induced abortion data are
required in the compilation of pregnancy statistics, especially for
teenage pregnancies. Traditionally, teen pregnancy statistics provide
information by the subgroups 15 to 17 and 18 to 19. These subgroups
are not available or imputed on the Therapeutic Abortion Survey
database. Therefore, these subgroups must be estimated when
calculating pregnancy counts and rates. For abortion cases where age
in single years is not provided, the estimation of the subgroups is
based upon the provincial age distribution observed for those cases
that did have a reported age in single years."[2]
There are far more pregnancies and abortions in the 18-19 age range
where teen pregnancy is not such a social and health issue as compared
with younger teen age groupings.
Finally, the press release by Lorrayne Anthony was biased in favour of
the pro-abortion political position. The commentator Judy Rebick
cannot be said to represent pro-choice. She continues to advocate for
abortion-on-request which is a pro-abortion political position. I
think that when 64% of Toronto teens who get pregnant end up with
abortion (2000), that is no Feminist victory. When your health
reporters check in with Toronto Public Health after it has had an
opportunity to summarize the latest years statistics (2004), they will
learn the truth about teen pregnancy and abortion in Canada.
Sincerely,
Karen Krisfalusi
1. http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/health43.htm
2. http://www.statcan.ca/cgi-bin/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=3209&lang=en&db=IMDB&dbg=f&adm=8&dis=2