Teen Pregnancy
- Jan 9, 2006 - comment
“More than one-third of all teenage pregnancies in the U.S. end in abortion. The vast majority of teenage pregnancies are unintended, and close to half of those unintended pregnancies (45 percent) end in an abortion. Teens may choose to have an abortion because they have concerns about how a baby would change their lives (for example, completing their education), they worry about financial problems, or they feel that they are not mature enough to become a parent.”
Teen Abortions (Child Trends DataBank) [Accessed August 25, 2005]
“Although non-Hispanic white teens have lower teen pregnancy rates (56.9 per 1,000 teens ages 15-19 in 2000) than either black non-Hispanic teens (151.0 per 1,000) or Hispanic teens (132.0 per 1,000), each racial/ethnic subgroup experienced declining rates in the 1990s. Non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic black teens ages 15 to 19 experienced steady declines between 1990 and 2000. Teenage pregnancy rates for Hispanic teens did not begin declining until 1993.”
Teen Pregnancy (Child Trends DataBank) [Accessed August 25, 2005]
| 1980 | 110.0 |
| 1981 | 109.2 |
| 1982 | 107.8 |
| 1983 | 107.2 |
| 1984 | 105.8 |
| 1985 | 106.9 |
| 1986 | 104.7 |
| 1987 | 104.8 |
| 1988 | 109.9 |
| 1989 | 113.0 |
| 1990 | 116.3 |
| 1991 | 116.0 |
| 1992 | 112.0 |
| 1993 | 109.2 |
| 1994 | 106.1 |
| 1995 | 101.1 |
| 1997 | 92.6 |
| 1996 | 97.0 |
| 1998 | 89.9 |
| 1999 | 86.7 |
| 2000 | 84.5 |
United States Pregnancy Rates for Teens, 15-19 (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy) [Accessed September 14, 2005]
“Nationwide, 4.7 percent of students reported that they had been pregnant or had gotten someone else pregnant. White female students (4 percent) were significantly more likely than white male students (2.5 percent) and female students in grade 12 (9.4 percent) were significantly more likely than male students in grade 12 (4.8 percent) to have been pregnant or to have gotten someone pregnant. Overall, black and Hispanic students (11.4 percent and 5.7 percent, respectively) were significantly more likely than white students (3.3 percent) to have been pregnant or to have gotten someone pregnant; black students (11.4 percent) were significantly more likely than Hispanic students (5.7 percent) to report this information. This significant racial/ethnic difference was identified for male students. Black female students (11.9 percent) were significantly more likely than Hispanic and white female students (6.2 percent and 4 percent, respectively) to have been pregnant. Overall, students in grade 12 (7.1 percent) were significantly more likely than students in grades 9, 10, and 11 (3.2 percent, 4.4 percent, and 4.8 percent, respectively) to have been pregnant or to have gotten someone pregnant. Prevalence varied threefold from 2.2 percent to 7.4 percent (median: 4.2 percent) across state surveys and varied fourfold from 2.3 percent to 10.3 percent (median: 6.3 percent) across local surveys.”
Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2001”:http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5104a1.htm (Centers for Disease Control) [Accessed September 14, 2005]
- 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.
- Thirty-four percent of young women become pregnant at least once before they reach the age of 20—about 820,000 a year. Eight in 10 of these pregnancies are unintended and 81 percent are to unmarried teens.
- The teen birth rate has declined slowly but steadily from 1991 to 2003 with an overall decline of 33 percent for those aged 15 to 19. These recent declines reverse the 23 percent rise in the teenage birth rate from 1986 to 1991. The largest decline since 1991 by race was for black women. The birth rate for black teens aged 15 to 19 fell 45 percent between 1991 to 2003. Hispanic teen birth rates declined 21 percent between 1991 and 2003. The rates of both Hispanics and blacks, however, remain higher than for other groups. Hispanic teens now have the highest teenage birth rates. Most teenagers giving birth before 1980 were married whereas most teens giving birth today are unmarried.
- The younger a teenaged girl is when she has sex for the first time, the more likely she is to have had unwanted or non-voluntary sex. Close to four in 10 girls who had first intercourse at 13 or 14 report it was either non-voluntary or unwanted.
General Facts and Stats (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy), May 2005
Further Learning
Learn more about: Family, Sexual Purity, Abstinence