Across the state, the number of teens giving birth improved according to the Kids Count Data Book — one of many bits of information about Kentucky that can be found.
In Boyle County, however the number hovered around the middle to upper 30s in rate per 1,000. While one of the lowest counties in the region, it is also one of the few that has continued to grow, even slightly.
The latest numbers for the data come from 2011-2013, which states that 37.4 teens per 1,000 in Boyle County were pregnant; 59.3 per thousand in Casey County, which is down from the previous three years; 42.1 per 1,000 in Garrard County, up slightly from the previous measure; 52.2 per 1,000 in Lincoln County, down from the previous measure; and 47.6 per 1,000 in Mercer County, up from the previous measure. Statewide, teen births have dropped to 35 per 1,000.
The data comes from the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Vital Statistics Branch, and is processed by the Kentucky State Data Center.
Not sure of the causes behind why the numbers locally hover around the same, Tiffany Johnson, the director of Haven Care Center, a pregnancy care center in Danville, said she could understand why the numbers might be dropping across the state.
Johnson believes the ease-of-access to the morning after pill could have a direct impact on the reduced numbers. No prescription is needed to pick up the medicine, which can be obtained at Walmart and other stores.
“People are using the morning after as a form of birth control, especially among college students,” Johnson said.
