By Dale Rodebaugh-Durango Herald

The use of intrauterine devices, IUDs, and other long-acting reversible contraceptives played a major role in reducing the number of teen births 35 percent in La Plata County and 47 percent in Archuleta County from 2009 to 2013, a San Juan Basin Health Department report said.

In La Plata County, the number of pregnancies among girls ages 15 to 19 dropped from 49 in 2009 to 32 in 2013, health department statistics show.

Mara Gandal-Power- National Women's Law Center

If I were to tell you that there was a program that helped women get the most effective forms of birth control and had reduced the teen birth rate by nearly 40% in four years, you’d probably say, “This is amazing, tell me more.”  If I told you that for every dollar invested in this program, the state had saved $5.85 in Medicaid costs, you might say, “You can’t argue with that math.”

Christine Vestal, Stateline

President Barack Obama hailed a landmark achievement in his State of the Union address last month: Teen pregnancies in the U.S. have hit an all-time low. But the U.S. still has a teen birthrate of 31.2 per 1,000 teens, nearly one-and-a-half times the rate in the United Kingdom, which has one of the highest rates in Western Europe

Collin Szewczyk, Aspen Daily News

Birth rates in ‘high-risk’ groups on the decline

A state program that offers free, long-term contraception is helping to limit unintended pregnancies for women in “high-risk” categories, public health director Liz Stark told the Pitkin County commissioners on Tuesday