A new report by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention shows that the teen birth rate for African Americans has declined by 60 percent between 1991 and 2011 – a rate 10 percent greater than the overall dip in teen birth rates. Over the past decade, the national teen birth rate has declined from 31 out of every 1,000 girls between 15-19 giving birth in 2011, compared to 61 girls per 1,000 in 1991. In 2007, the Hispanic teen birth rate was 21 percent higher than the Black teen birth rate; in 2011 it was only four percent higher.

Medical professionals and women’s advocates first recommended that EC go over-the-counter in 2003, and what followed was a decade of politically-motivated delays and blocks that kept EC behind the counter and out of reach for many women. Until now, people under 17 who needed EC had to get a prescription first, and those 17 and older had to go to the pharmacy counter during business hours and show government-issued photo ID.