Lauren Boebert praises higher teen birth rates in rural America

Judy Kurtz for The Hill reported last week that Lauren Boebert, the 36-year-old Republican Congresswoman from western Colorado, was praising high rates of teen birth in rural areas.   Here's a direct quote:  

There’s something special about rural conservative communities — they value life. If you look at teen pregnancy rates throughout the nation, well, they’re the same in rural and urban areas. However, abortion rates are higher in urban areas, and teen mom rates are higher in rural, conservative areas because we understand the preciousness of the life that is about to be born.

The Hill provides this data for context: 

In 2015, 18.9 out of every 1,000 urban female teenagers gave birth, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, compared to 30.9 out of every 1,000 for those in counties of fewer than 50,000, PBS reported. Since 2007, the nationwide teen birth rate has dropped by approximately half, but it has only fallen by about one-third in rural areas. 

I wonder if Boebert has considered that one reason for the lower abortion rate in rural America is that regulation on the procedure have made abortions much harder for rural women to access.  Read more here.  

Boebert made her comments in relation to an announcement that she will soon be a 36-year-old grandmother because the girlfriend of her 17-year-old son, Tyler, sill give birth to their child next month.  Boebert said she and her husband are "so excited to welcome this new life into our family." 

Boebert made the comments as she was presented with the Moms for America "Mothers Influence Award" last Tuesday for "taking “an incredible stance in empowering moms, promoting liberty, and raising patriots!”  The Hill further quotes Boebert:

“Now my son, when I approached him and told him, ‘Tyler, I’m going to be a 36-year-old grandmother,’ he said, ‘Well didn’t you make Granny a 36-year-old granny?’”

“I said, ‘Yes, I did.’ He said, ‘Well, then it’s hereditary.’”

“Nice try, buddy,” Boebert, a far-right conservative with hard-line views on abortion, said to laughs from the crowd.