In a troubling reversal, the US teen birth rate rose for the
first time in 15 years, surprising government health officials
and reviving the bitter debate about abstinence-only sex
education. The birth rate had been dropping since its peak in
1991, although the decline had slowed in recent years. On
Wednesday, government statisticians said it rose 3 percent from
2005 to last year. The reason for the increase is not clear, and
federal health officials said it might be a one-year statistical
blip, not the beginning of a new upward trend. However, some
experts said they have been expecting a jump. They blamed it on
increased federal funding for abstinence-only health education
that does not teach teens how to use condoms and other
contraception. Some key sexually transmitted disease rates have
been rising, including syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia. The
rising teen pregnancy rate is part of the same phenomenon, said
Carol Hogue, an Emory University professor of maternal and child
health. "It's not rocket scienc