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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Utah's teen pregnancy rate dropped in 2005, but some areas still show "alarmingly high" numbers of births to young mothers, the state reported Thursday.
The pregnancy rate was 38 per every 1,000 females, ages 15 to 19, compared to 38.6 in 2004 and nearly 40 in 2003, said Jenny Mayfield, adolescent health coordinator at the Utah Department of Health. The pregnancy rate includes live births, fetal deaths and abortions.
Utah's goal is to reduce it to 32 by 2015, Mayfield said. "The fact that fewer girls are getting pregnant is encouraging and indicates that state and local prevention efforts are working," she said.
The rate was well below the national figure of 75 per 1,000 females in that age category.
Nonetheless, there are areas in Utah where live births among young mothers are "alarmingly high, exceeding even national rates," the health department said in a statement.
From 2003 through 2005, the Rose Park area of Salt Lake City had an average birth rate of 96.5 per 1,000 females, ages 15 to 19, followed by downtown Ogden at 83, and Glendale, an area in Salt Lake County, at 79.8, Mayfield said.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
