Shropshire Star

Telford teenage pregnancies at record low

Teenage pregnancy rates in Telford & Wrekin have fallen to record lows, new figures have revealed.

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Telford saw a particularly pronounced decline, and in 2015 there were only 25 pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 18 and under in the borough.

When records began in 1998, the rate stood at 64.2 per 1,000 women.

Shropshire has a lower rate still, with 17 pregnancies per 1,000 women, but that actually reflects a slight increase on the previous year. In total, 93 under-18s in Shropshire and 79 in Telford and Wrekin got pregnant in 2015, with 63.4 per cent of those in Shropshire and 29.2 per cent of those in Telford having an abortion.

In 2015 – the last year covered by the figures – 3,512 women in Shropshire got pregnant, or 71.5 per 1,000 women.

There were 2,570 pregnancies in Telford & Wrekin, which equates to 79.4 women for every 1,000 living in the county. Both were behind the 82.8 women in every 1,000 who got pregnant in the West Midlands, where a total of 90,504 women got pregnant in 2015.

In 2015, the estimated number of conceptions in England and Wales rose by 0.7 per cent to 876,934, from 871,038 the year before.

A combination of young women turning their aspirations towards education, stigma associated with being a teenage mother, better sex education and improved access to contraceptives are all thought to be factors in the downturn in the number of under 18s conceiving children. The figures also show that most babies are conceived out of wedlock.

The ONS said there has been a long-term rise in the percentage of pregnancies occurring outside marriage or civil partnership, reaching 57 per cent in 2015 in England and Wales.

Professor Kevin Fenton, from Public Health England, said: "It is good news that the rate of teenage pregnancy continues to decline, as it is linked to poor future health for both parents and babies."

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