Teenage pregnancy rates rose during the 1960s. More liberal attitudes toward premarital sex had arrived, but reliable contraception was not yet widely available. In 1972, almost 7% of 15–19-year-old girls gave birth to a child. Teen marriages were relatively common in the early 1970s. The rapid decline in teenage pregnancies over that decade is linked to the wider prescribing of the pill and the use of other contraceptives. Doctors were not allowed to prescribe contraception to under-16-year-olds until 1977. New Zealand's rate of teenage pregnancy dropped significantly in the 2010s but was still high compared with most other western countries.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Source: Statistics New Zealand
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