"[T]he Utah teenage pregnancy rate is quite high...."
- Annonymous, Bing�s Mormonisms, Bing�s Mormon Corner
"In spite of the Mormon church's stress on family values in their television ads, the [rate] of...unwed teenage pregnancy in Utah [is] above the United States average...."
- Richard Lloyd Measures, Holy Hooks
"Teen-age pregnancy is unusually high in Utah.... Many Mormon girls marry at the age of 18 (or get pregnant at age 15)."
- Know Your Utah Mormon, Wild Utah
"Fifty percent of Utah's births are to teen girls, and seven out of ten are illegitimate."
- C. D. Turbeville, ed., Current Trends & Updates 7(13), Third World Baptist Missions Network
- Dale Burden, ed., The Gist, Summer 2000, Kry: The Fundamental Voice for Free Will Baptists
- E. L. Bynum, ed., News & Views, 6/00, Tabernacle Baptist Church
See also:
- Frederick C. Kubicek, The Mormon Doctrine - Is It Christian?, Unlimited Glory Ministries
- We�re Christians Too!, Let Us Reason Ministries
"More than 50% of all births are by teenage mothers, with seven of ten out of wedlock...."
- Mark A. Taylor, Sin & Death in Mormon Country: A Latter-day Tragedy, Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons
"Utah...is higher than the national average in...teenage pregnancies before marriage...."
- March/April 2002 Newsletter, Apologetics Resource Center
Figure 1. Teen pregnancy rates for the United States and Utah, 1990-2000.
Figure 2. Percent of births to teens in the United States and Utah, 1970-2000.
Sources that claim that 70% of teen births in Utah are illegitimate cite the following newspaper article:
"Utah's Teen Birth Rate Increases 11%--SALT LAKE CITY (UPI)--Seven out of every ten children born to teenagers in Utah are conceived out of wedlock... 'Of every ten children born to teenagers in Utah, two are born illegitimately, five are conceived out of wedlock by women who married before the child is born, and three are conceived by married teenaged women,' he (State Family Health Services Director Peter van Dyck) said."What the article really says is that 70% of children born to teens are conceived out of wedlock, but only 20% are actually born out of wedlock. This is an accurate figure for the late 1970s, when the article was written (the national average was about 40% at the time).- Ogden Standard-Examiner, December 15, 1979, p. 2A; as quoted by Larry Hall, Stop Hurting My Children!
However this percentage has increased dramatically over the last 20 years, to 62% in 2000 in Utah (79% nationally).
Figure 3 shows the rates of illegitimate teen births for Utah and the United States.
Figure 3. Percent of out-of-wedlock teen births, United States and Utah, 1970-2000.
Pregnancy rates, Utah
Utah's Vital Statistics: Births and Deaths, 2000. Utah Department of Health, Center for Health Data. 2001. Table 27, p. S-29.
Births, United States
[All ages] Martin JA, Hamilton BE, Ventura SJ, Menacker F, Park MM. Births: Final Data for 2000. National Vital Statistics Reports 50(5). Hyattsville, Maryland: National Center for Health Statistics. 2002. Table 1, p. 27.
[Ages 15-19] Ventura SJ, Mathews TJ, Hamilton BE. Births to Teenagers in the
United States, 1940�2000. National Vital Statistics Reports 49(10). Hyattsville, Maryland: National Center for Health Statistics. 2001. Table 1, p. 10.
Births, Utah
Utah's Vital Statistics: Births and Deaths, 2000. Births by age of mother are calculated from Tables 13 and 14, pp. S-16 and S-17.
Percent of births to unmarried teens, United States
[1970-99] Ventura SJ, Bachrach CA. Nonmarital Childbearing in the United States, 1940�99. National Vital Statistics Reports 48(16). Hyattsville, Maryland: National Center for Health Statistics. 2000. Table 4, p. 28.
[2000] Births: Final Data for 2000. Table 17, p. 46.
Percent of births to unmarried teens, Utah
Utah's Vital Statistics: Births and Deaths, 2000. Table 14, p. S-17.