Teen pregnancy rates in the city dropped 30 percent from 2001 to a new low in 2011, the Health Department reported Wednesday.

Data showed a steady decrease from 98.7 to 69.2 pregnancies per 1,000 females between 2001 and 2011.

Although teen pregnancies fell in every borough, the data found that Bronx had the highest rate of 95.9 per 1,000 females. More than 17,000 teens get pregnant every year, with most cases among 18- to 19-year-olds, the city said.

The city’s efforts to reduce teen pregnancy include the health service app Teens in NYC – Protection +, support groups such as Bronx Teens Connection and the mayor’s Young Men Initiative, and, launched this March, a prevention ad campaign.

“Not having sex is the surest way to prevent unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections,” Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said. “But for teens who are having sex, it is important to use birth control and condoms to prevent unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease.”

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A new app from from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene aims to provide New York City teens with information about clinics and sexual health services at the click of a button — or tap of a finger.

The app is getting surprisingly little promotion, given the backlash from the mayor’s teen pregnancy ads, when many advocates and city officials accused the administration of wasting funds and energy on a shame campaign that did not focus enough or at all on providing access to information or resources.

“The app is a great step forward and I commend the administration,” said Councilwoman Anabel Palma, one of the city officials who took issue with the ad campaign. “But I still am extremely disappointed about the ads and upset the administration won’t change the messaging of stereotyping or stigmatizing current teen parents and past teen parents as well.”

Palma praised the app as a better proactive, preventative measure, insisting that “scare tactics don’t get teens to correct their behavior, education does.”

The app seizes on the fact that in New York state, teens are not required to get parental consent before receiving sexual health resources, information, or treatment.

The app has three components: a clinic search engine; information about various forms of birth control, including emergency contraception, and a reminder that both a condom and birth control must be used to be effective; as well as a section of video testimonials from teens.

The teens in the videos describe the experience of clinic visits, as well as other experiences teens may have trouble discussing with adults, including sexual attraction and unplanned pregnancies.

Some clinics are marked with a gold star, indicating they offer some services free of charge. All of the clinics included in the app’s directory have been screened by teen “mystery shoppers,” who visited the clinics in advance to make sure they’re adolescent-friendly.

The app also assures users that all of the clinics offer confidential sexual health services, so information will not be shared with parents or significant others. No information is logged by the app when downloading or using it, either.

The app, called Teens in NYC Protection +, is available via iTunes.

More information on teen health resources and services is accessible on nyc.gov by searching “NYC teen.”

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

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A controversial anti-teen-pregnancy campaign from the Bloomberg administration has been met with criticism from advocacy organizations who claim the ads are stigmatizing, hurtful, and are reinforcing harmful stereotypes.

The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health condemned the campaign for its lack of “medically accurate, culturally appropriate or socially relevant information,” and Haydee Morales, the vice president of education and training at Planned Parenthood of New York City, implied that the campaign was a misuse of city money, and intended only for “shock value.”

“The city’s money would be better spent helping teens access health care, birth control and high-quality sexual education,” Morales insisted.

NLIRH executive director Jessica González-Rojas emphasized the need for increased access to contraception, asserting that structural barriers – from immigration status and language to poverty and discrimination — keep many young Latinas from being able to obtain contraception, and are thus the causes of higher rates of unintended teen pregnancy.

Morales also criticized the administration for “blaming young people for the outcomes of poverty, violence, limited access to healthcare and unequal educational opportunities, as well as gender, racial, and ethnic inequalities.”

“Young people and their families need medically accurate, culturally appropriate and socially relevant information to make healthy and informed decisions… and they need increased access to contraception,” González-Rojas insisted.

González-Rojas also criticized the text-messaging component of the campaign, which reportedly generates responsed like “My BFF called me a ‘fat loser’ at prom” and “First my parents diss me, now my BFF. She has stopped calling me.”

She scolded the administration for “painting teen parents as failures” and added, “I would welcome a conversation with the Administration about how their can do better for NYC teens.”

Samantha Levine at the mayor’s office said, “This campaign is part of the City’s comprehensive teen pregnancy prevention program, which includes sex education, increased access to birth control and partnerships with community-based organizations.”

According to the mayor’s office, there are more than 20,000 teen pregnancies annually in New York City, and 87 percent are unintended.

As of September 2011, comprehensive sex education — as opposed to abstinence-only — is mandated in city public schools, a move that is part of the Young Men’s Initiative. The city also launched the CUNY Fatherhood Academy through the Young Men’s Initiative, which prepares young fathers to apply to, enroll in, and graduate from college.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

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The city is launching a new ad campaign to “further reduce” teen pregnancy, featuring babies seemingly delivering alarming statements about the difficulties of parenting.

One ad shows a little girl looking concerned, and reads: “Honestly, Mom… chances are he won’t stay with you. What happens to me?”

The ad further notes that 90 percent of teen parents don’t marry each other.

Another ad also emphasizes marriage as a requisite for good parenting, declaring: “If you finish high school, get a job, and get married before having children, you have a 98 percent chance of not being in poverty.”

When asked about whether the mayor believes married parents are better than unmarried ones, referencing that last ad as an indicator of that sentiment, press secretary Marc La Vorgna said, “We are presenting a fact in each of the ads, including [that one].”

The posters will be displayed on subways and bus shelters around the city. The campaign also involves an interactive texting program, as each poster advises to “text ‘NOT NOW’ to 877877 for the real cost of teen pregnancy.”

Sending that text signs the sender up for “fun games and quizzes from the Human Resources Administration,” the city agency responsible for the ad campaign.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

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