If there was ever a time to doubt the importance of sex education, now isn’t it. According to the Center for Disease Control, the amount of teen pregnancies from 2010 has dramatically dropped to 34.3 births per 1,000 15-19 years olds—the lowest rate every recorded. The historic low is being attributed to birth control availability and abstinence incited by the recession, reality television, and greater knowledge of the struggles of teen motherhood.

While the low numbers are something to rave about, the U.S. still has some of the highest birth rates for an industrialized country, and this cost taxpayers money to support these births. This problem is especially prevalent in the south—Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Alabama, specifically—states where various anti-birth control and anti-abortion legislation were introduced in the past year.