A1998 ARTICLE in the New York Times bore the headline: "Fewer Teen-Age Mothers? Maybe. In Los Angeles, They're Skeptical." The article was written in response to a report from statisticians: In 1998 teen birth rates in the United States were down about 18 percent from the 1991 rate. The journalist, Don Terry, took the news to the streets of Los Angeles to see what teenagers thought. Some were doubtful that any improvement in the rate of teen pregnancy had been made. "More of my friends have been getting pregnant than not," one nineteen-year-old girl told Terry, adding, "It's just me and two of my friends who aren't pregnant and who don't have any kids."1 But teens who accepted the validity of Terry's information used their experiences and observations to suggest what might have taken place to make the change. Most believed it was due to an increased use of condoms (based...