The teen birth rate in Wisconsin is increasing....but numbers are going down in Marathon County.

Figures released by the state Department of Health Services show that in 2007, 21 girls 17 and under gave birth. That number was 29 in 2006.

Throughout central Wisconsin, the teen birth rate has remained fairly steady. In 2007, out of 1000 births...32 were to teen mothers in the state.

Lon Newman, executive director of Family Planning Health Services says one reason less teens are getting pregnant is because there is more access to birth control.

Because of Medicaid's Family Planning Waiver, women can get birth control and othe reproductive services for free. Teens make up 30 percent of Family Planning clientele.

Plus, Newman says some teens are choosing to delay sexual intercourse because they're more educated about HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases being on the rise.

"Sexually transmitted infection rates are up so that has....some of the younger teens are wise enough to delay sexual intercourse," he said.

One local RN says teens who get pregnant may have less healthy babies.

"I believe that nutritionally they are not as healthy. Also they as well maybe don't seek medical care, pre-natal care," said Ann Line, nursing supervisor at Aspirus Women's Health Birthing Center.

Line says they have a higher risk of giving birth to premature babies with low birth weights.

Many times teenagers who find themselves pregnant may be in denial....or want it to go away....and ultimately the baby suffers.

That's why she says it's important for parents to have open dialogue with their children, to be supportive, and to educate them how to prevent pregnancy in the first place.