TEXAS, USA — Texas teen fertility rates in 2022 increased for the first time in 15 years and the overall fertility rate statewide increased by 2%, according to a new report by the University of Houston Institute for Research on Women, Gender & Sexuality.
In the five years leading up to 2022, the report states that fertility rates in Texas declined 12.2% and births declined by 7.5%.
The overall Texas fertility rate – calculated as births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 – rose in 2022 for the first time since 2014, by 2% over 2021. That's 16,147 more babies born in 2022 than in 2021.
The report states that the year-over-year fertility rate increase in 2022 was most notable among Hispanic women ages 25 to 44, whose fertility rate jumped 8%. Hispanic teens also experienced greater jumps in birth rates, with a 1.2% increase.
The report states that researchers expect 2023 data will show an even larger rise in fertility rates – likely a 5.1% increase, versus the 2% rise in 2022 – in part due to the near-total abortion bans in place in Texas and several surrounding states.
"This is in part due to the geography of bans in surrounding states post-Dobbs (including Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana), which make interstate travel for an abortion more expensive and time-consuming for many," the report states. "Early 2023 data also suggested that Hispanic women will see the biggest rate rises (as was the case in the 2022 data examined here) and that women 20-24 will see notable rises (differently from in the 2022 data)."
Take a look at the report to dig further into the data.