Oil rigs, such as the sites between Stanley and New Town, N.D.
pictured above, have led to new jobs and a revitalized economy,
but have recently been attributed to the state's low teen
pregnancy rate. (Will Kincaid/USA TODAY) According to a new
Guttmacher Institute report, the unusually low teen pregnancy
rate in North Dakota may be due to the state’s oil boom. “It’s
not by having such great sex ed, contraception access, and
abortion providers,” Guttmacher senior researcher Laura Lindberg
told Slate writer Amanda Hess. With only one Planned Parenthood
facility in the entire state and 75 percent of the population
living in counties with no abortion provider, North Dakota's
teen pregnancy measures seem an unlikely cause. With the influx
of young men to the state, the numbers are even more puzzling.
As our nation’s most recent oil boom continues to unfold, North
Dakota has been at the forefront of shale excavation. Thousands
of workers have flocked to the otherwise sparsely populated
state, creating boom towns,