Anti-abortion Colorado Republican Lauren Boebert has said that her 17-year-old son will make her a grandmother in April. She also gave her thoughts on abortion rights and praised the "rural conservative communities" that "value life."
Boebert was talking at an event hosted by conservative non-profit Moms for America, as per a video shared by Twitter account PatriotTakes. She said that one of her four sons, 17-year-old Tyler, and his girlfriend are expecting a baby boy.
"Now, any of you who have young children who are giving life, there's some questions that pop up. There's some fear that arises," the 36-year-old Colorado congresswoman said.
"There's something special about rural conservative communities," Boebert continued. "They value life. If you look at teen pregnancy rates throughout the nation, well, they're the same, [in] rural and urban areas. However, abortion rates are higher in urban areas. Teen moms' rates are higher in rural conservative areas, because they understand the preciousness of a life that it's about to be born."
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), teen birth rates (births per 1,000 females aged 15 to 19 years) have been declining since 1991. However, the U.S. remains one of the countries with the highest rates in the developing world. The CDC recognizes that there are geographical differences in teen birth rates. However, it finds social determinants such as low education and low income levels of a teen's family to have the greater impact on these numbers.
A 2012 study by Physical Review B (PRB) found that teen girls of lower socioeconomic status in regions of high-income inequality were more likely to get on with the pregnancy rather than seeking an abortion.
A 2019 study published in the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) suggested that teen birth rates in rural areas might be higher than in urban areas because teens might be vulnerable to "local conditions that limit unintended pregnancy management options." Teens living in rural areas often face large geographical barriers to access abortion providers—a difficulty that's been exacerbated by a proliferation of abortion bans in Republican-led states.
The CDC also reports the impact that teen pregnancies have on the girls' lives: only 50 percent of teen mothers receive a high school diploma before the age of 22. Among women who don't give birth in their teens, this number goes up to 90 percent.
A 2008 study mentioned by the CDC also studied the impact of teen pregnancies on the children. The offspring of teen moms are more likely to have lower school achievement or drop out of school; have more health problems; be incarcerated in their teens; and give birth as teenagers themselves.
Boebert was a teen mom herself and had to drop out of high school because of her pregnancy. She has received harsh criticism online this week for blasting sex education classes in schools. She had said that public school students should not be taught about enjoying sex and what LGBTQ people do in bed.
"There are schools that are teaching worse than just gender ideology," Boebert said this week during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). "I mean they have comprehensive sex-ed. They're teaching kids how to have and enjoy sex, and even same-sex sex."
Newsweek has emailed Boebert's team for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek Reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on U.S. and European politics, global affairs ... Read more
