June 29, 2011 9.34 am This story is over 153 months old

City worse than average for teen pregnancy

Teenage pregnancy: Lincoln is among the worst cities in England for under-18 pregnancy, a report shows.

Lincoln is among the worst cities in England for teen pregnancy, at 2.4% above the national average.

Earlier this year Lincolnshire County Council reported that the county’s teen pregnancy rates were falling.

However, the latest figures for Lincoln, released by the Department of Health, show 6.36% of 15-17-year-old-girls got pregnant.

Carol Goodyear, Project Support Manager (Teenage Pregnancy) at Lincolnshire County Council’s Tackling Teenage Pregnancy team, said:

“The Tackling Teenage Pregnancy Team has made good progress in reducing under 18 conception rates across Lincolnshire.

“A 25.1% reduction has been achieved between 1998 and 2009; this compares favourably with the overall national reduction of 18.1%.

“However, there are areas in Lincolnshire which have a higher conception rate than the rest of the county, which tend to fall in areas of higher deprivation.

“The team is working very closely with partner agencies on a number of initiatives within Lincoln, and throughout the county, to deliver good sex and relationship education and improved access to young people friendly sexual health services.

“These initiatives include engaging with parents and parents to be, aspiration building programmes, increased staff training and tailored information materials.”

Photo: Kelly Moore for The Lincolnite