New York City’s teen pregnancy rate has decreased by 27% over the past decade. And Health Commissioner Tom Farley attributes the change, in part, to the provision of contraceptives in public schools.

The New York Daily New writes:

The city has worked to make it easier for kids to get birth control — giving out condoms at schools and making birth control and the morning-after pill available in some school clinics, a sometimes controversial move. Farley said the numbers show that strategy is working. “It shows that when you make condoms and contraception available to teens, they don’t increase their likelihood of being sexually active. But they get the message that sex is risky,” he said.