As U.S. teen birthrate reaches 70-year low, Ky. still 7th highest

The teenage birth rate nationwide is the lowest in nearly 70 years, but Kentucky's rate is much higher than the national average — 46.2 births per 1,000 compared to 34.3 across the U.S.

That ranks it seventh highest in the nation, but the figure is down from 53.1 per 1,000 in 2007. Nationwide, the number is down from 61.8 per 1,000 in 1991. "Young people are being more careful," Sarah Brown, CEO of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, told Sharon Jayson of USA Today.

In 2010, a total of 367,752 infants were born to mothers ages 15 to 19. Mississippi had the highest rate, with 55 teen births per 1,000 and New Hampshire had the lowest with 15.7, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

Girls who are having sex for the first time are much more likely to use contraception than their predecessors, notes Laura Lindberg, a senior research associate with the non-profit Guttmacher Institute in New York. She credited the lower teen-birth rate to "the elimination of pelvic exams before receiving prescriptions for hormonal methods, as well as use of long-acting methods such as IUDs." (Read more)

Will birth-control mandate cost more or less? Yet to be seen

Will requiring insurance companies to provide contraception be cost-neutral, as the Obama administration claims? It is unclear, and so is whether insurance companies will make Catholic institutions pay more. These were the findings of FactCheck.org, a nonpartisan, nonprofit, consumer-advocate project funded by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.

In support of its claim, the administration cites data from Hawaii's birth-control mandate, which shows health insurance premiums "did not appear" to increase. The study also found the number of pregnancies increased after contraception coverage was required.

But when Pennsylvania considered imposing a similar mandate, a state agency found "the amount of possible savings relative to the cost of the legislation is unclear." Findings were also unclear in Connecticut when officials there looked at whether or not insurance plans saved enough because there were fewer pregnancies to offset the cost of providing coverage. A Texas study found insurance companies would not save enough because women would buy contraception on their own.

A recent survey of 15 insurance companies found six thought costs would increase and another three felt the move would be neutral in cost. None felt they would save money because of the mandate.

"Until better data are available, we're unable to conclude whether the Obama birth-control mandate is likely to result in a net cost increase or not," FactCheck reports.

Obama changes health-insurance rule to placate religious groups that oppose birth control

In an effort to quell a firestorm of controversy, President Obama announced today that his administration change its new rule that requires employers to offer free birth-control coverage in their health insurance plans. The rule has outraged some Roman Catholic leaders, whose tenets prohibit artificial contraception. (Associated Press photo by Susan Walsh)

Today's change essentially requires insurers, rather than religious employers, to cover the cost of coverage for contraception. "Any employer who has a religious objection to providing contraception will not have to provide that service to employees, but in those cases the insurer will be required to reach out directly to the employee and offer contraceptive care free of charge," report Christi Parsons and Kathleen Hennessey of the Los Angeles Times.

Yesterday at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky joined several other speakers in lambasting the original version of the rule, calling it "an assault on religious liberty," reports James R. Carroll of The Courier-Journal.

Obama's adjustment did not appear to placate most critics, but Sister Carol Keehan, president of the Catholic Health Association, said, "The framework developed has responded to the issues we identified that needed to be fixed." (Read more)