U.S. Teenage Pregnancies, Births, and Abortions, 2010: National and State Trends by Age, Race, and Ethnicity

This report contains the most recent and comprehensive statistics available -- for 2010 -- on the incidence of teenage pregnancy, birth and abortion for the United States as a whole and for individual states. At the national level, we show trends since 1972. For states, we present trends since 1988. The report concludes with a discussion of the methodology and sources used to obtain the estimates. Our previously published statistics for national- and state-level estimates through 2008 were published in two separate reports.Counts of pregnancies include births, abortions, miscarriage and stillbirths. The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) provides annual counts of teen births in the United States, as reported in the National Vital Statistics System (via birth certificates).The estimates we present for 2010 are part of the Guttmacher Institute's ongoing surveillance of teen pregnancy in the United States. Our national- and state-level teen pregnancy report is generally updated every two years and contains the only available estimates of teen pregnancy for all 50 states using counts of abortions from the Guttmacher Institute's periodic national census of abortion providers. This census is widely recognized as the most accurate count of abortions performed annually in the United States. Through a collaborative agreement with NCHS, we also provide abortion data for the calculation of teen pregnancy rates at the national level for use in NCHS vital statistics reports. A demographic rate is defined as the number of events (in this case, pregnancies, births or abortions) divided by the number of individuals who could experience the event -- the "population." The pregnancy rate is composed of the rates of pregnancy outcomes (births, abortions and miscarriages) and is not synonymous with the birthrate. Trends in rates of births, abortions and pregnancies can move in different directions and may be affected by different social and economic factors. Unless otherwise indicated, in this report, the words "teenagers" and "teens" refer to women aged 15 -- 19. The report also includes numbers, and in some cases rates, shown separately for women aged 14 and younger, 15 -- 17-year-olds, 18 -- 19-year-olds and all women younger than 20. We also present statistics by race and ethnicity when the data are sufficient to provide these estimates

Family Cap Provisions and Changes in Births and Abortions

As part of welfare reform efforts in the 1990s, twenty-three states implemented family caps, provisions that deny or reduce cash assistance to welfare recipients who have additional births. We use birth and abortion records from 24 states to estimate effects of family caps on birth and abortion rates. We use age, marital status and completed schooling to identify women at high risk for use of public assistance, and parity (number of previous live births) to identify those most directly affected by the family cap. In family cap states, birth rates fell more and abortion rates rose more among high-risk women with at least one previous live birth compared to similar childless women, consistent with an effect of the family cap. However, this parity-specific pattern of births and abortions also occurred in states that implemented welfare reform with no family cap. Thus, the effects of welfare reform may have differed between mothers and childless women, but there is little evidence of an independent effect of the family cap.

High-frequency urban measurements of molecular hydrogen and carbon monoxide in the United Kingdom

High-frequency measurements of atmospheric molecular hydrogen (H<sub>2</sub>) and carbon monoxide (CO) were made at an urban site in the United Kingdom (UK) from mid-December, 2008 until early March, 2009. Very few measurements of H<sub>2</sub> exist in the urban environment, particularly within the UK, but are an essential component in the assessment of anthropogenic emissions of H<sub>2</sub> and to a certain extent CO. These data provide detailed information on urban time-series, diurnal cycles as well as sources and sinks of both H<sub>2</sub> and CO at urban locations. High-frequency data were found to be strongly influenced by local meteorological conditions of wind speed and temperature. Diurnal cycles were found to follow transport frequency very closely due to the sites proximity to major carriageways, consequently a strong correlation was found between H<sub>2</sub> and CO mole fractions. Background subtracted mean and rush hour molar H<sub>2</sub>/CO emission ratios of 0.53±0.08 and 0.57±0.06 respectively, were calculated from linear fitting of data. The scatter plot of all H<sub>2</sub> and CO data displayed an unusual two population pattern, thought to be associated with a large industrial area 85 km to the west of the site. However, the definitive source of this two branch pattern could not be fully elucidated. H<sub>2</sub> emissions from transport in the UK were estimated to be 188±39 Gg H<sub>2</sub>/yr, with 8.1±2.3 Tg/yr of H<sub>2</sub> produced from vehicle emissions globally. H<sub>2</sub> and CO deposition velocities were calculated during stable night-time inversion events when a clear decay of both species was observed. CO was found to have a much higher deposition velocity than H<sub>2</sub>, 1.3±0.8×10<sup>−3</sup> and 2.2±1.5×10<sup>−4</sup> m s<sup>−1</sup> (1σ) respectively, going against the law of molecular diffusivity. The source of this unusual result was investigated, however no conclusive explanation was found for increased loss of CO over H<sub>2</sub> during stable night time inversion events

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

credit, including © notice, is given to the source. Family Cap Provisions and Changes in Births and Adoptions

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