COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - An advocacy group reports the teen birth rate in South Carolina has dropped 47 percent in 20 years.
The South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy said the teen birth rate is at an all-time low.
The campaign says the teen birth rate dropped 7 percent between 2011 and 2012. There were about 36 births for every 1,000 teen girls in 2012.
Executive Director Forrest Alton said Thursday the decline represents 21,000 fewer teen births in the past 20 years.
Alton said South Carolina still has the 11th highest rate in the nation. Nineteen of the state's 46 counties had increases in the teen birth rate in 2012, compared with 2011.
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