TEEN PREGNANCY

WHAT WE KNOW

• Nearly four in ten young women become pregnant at least once before they reach the age of 20 - nearly one million a year. Eight in ten of these pregnancies are unintended, and 79% are to unmarried teens.
• The United States has the highest rates of teen pregnancy and births in the western industrialized world. Teen pregnancy costs the United States at least $7 billion annually.
• The younger a teenage girl is when she has sex for the first time, the more likely she is to have had unwanted or non-voluntary sex. Almost four in ten girls who had first intercourse at 13 or 14 report it was either unwanted or not voluntary.
• The sons of teen mothers are 13% more likely to end up in prison, while teen daughters are 22% more likely to become teen mothers themselves.
• A sexually active teenager who does not use contraception has a 90% chance of becoming pregnant or causing pregnancy within one year.
• One third of pregnant teens receive inadequate prenatal care.
• Babies born to young mothers are more likely to be of low birth weight, to have childhood health problems, and to be hospitalized than are those born to older mothers.

 

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