Teen birth rate up in Georgia

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says the rate of Georgia teen-agers having babies has increased three percent.

The CDC says that for every 1000 births in the state between 2005 and 2006, 54 were to teen-aged moms.

Georgia's teen birth rate ranks the 10th highest throughout the country.

Michele Ozumba, president of the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, says the increase comes as funding cuts are made to programs designed to prevent teen pregnancy.

"We started seeing this trend a couple of years ago where community based programs that serve young people are struggling to keep their doors open," she says.

The teen birth rate increased throughout the U.S. this year, the first time in 15 years.

Ozumba also criticizes the lack of sex education in schools, criticizing public school classes that that focus on abstinence from sex, and do not teach birth control methods. Supporters of abstinence-only education say abstinence is the only sure way to avoid pregnancy.

A congressional study found in 2007 that abstinence-only programs don't work.