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Show Section VI. Women's and Children's Health There are many topics of health that are specific to women and children. Although there are additional women's and children's health topics that are not covered in this data subsection of Utah's Health: An Annual Review, Subsection VI does provide data on a number of topics that are of interest in women's and children's health in Utah. Interestingly, women's and children's health is an area of health where Utah is quite unique. Utah has the highest fertility and birth rates in the nation. This greatly contributes to Utah's rapid population growth. At the same time, Utah's adolescent birth rates have consistently been below national averages for approximately twenty years. In addition to these rates, Utah has the lowest induced abortion rate in the nation. Utah's abortion rate has consistently been far lower than the national average during the past twenty years. Infant health is strong in Utah comparative to the nation. In 1998, Utah had the fourth lowest infant mortality rate in the nation and the fifteenth lowest percentage of low birth weight infants in 1999. An alarming statistic, both in Utah and throughout the nation, is that the percentage of low birth weight infants has slowly been increasing during the past twenty years. Utah's Health: An Annual Review Volume VIII |