Red states have much higher teen birth rates than blue states
November 19, 2004
As promised in my previous article I have been working on my analysis of teen pregancy rates by state and compared them to the red state, blue state electoral votes in the Presidential election in 2004. The pundits claim the the voters who voted for Bush did so because of "values". However, if the behavior of the people who live in these states is any indication of what they value, it makes one wonder because what they say they value and what they do are quite at odds.
For example, divorce rates are higher in red states than blue states even though they passed resolutions banning gay marriage because they supposedly want to protect marriage which they don't practice.
Another indicator we might take a look at is teen pregnancy rates, and I predicted that teen pregnancy rates would be higher in red states than they are in blue states and I found this to be overwhelmingly true. So, it makes one wonder whether these folks "walk" the "talk". It doesn't appear that they do. And while they rail against the northeastern and west coast "liberals", it appears when you look at the data that these "liberals" do walk the talk.
So, I found in my analysis that the first 16 states with the highest teen birth rates are red states with Mississippi leading the way with 64.7 teen births per 1,000 followed by Texas with 64.4 births per 1,000.
Nine out of ten the states with the lowest teen birth rates were blue states led by New Hampshire with a rate of 20.0 per 1,000 more than 2/3rds less than Mississippi and Massachusetts with a rate of 23.3 per 1,000. Clearly the "liberal states do much better on this indicator and other indicators of "family values" such as divorce rates than red states.
So, it appears when you look at the facts that there is a tremendous amount of hypocrisy in the United States because when you look at what people do, how they lead their lives, and the practices they engage in, it appears that people who live in blue states are more stable in their family and personal lives as indicated by divorce rates and teen birth rates.
I am going to be looking at other indicators to obtain further insight into the behavioral health of people in the United States. It is my hope that people will stop listening to the sound bites and the rhetoric of the demogogues and start to think critically and truthfully about the issues that affect their lives.
Link: Kaiser statehealthfacts.org: 50 State Comparisons: Teen Birth Rate, 2002.