TEEN PREGNANCY
 I'm gonna have a baby! 
Q: Is 13 years old too young
to get pregnant? What
may happen to your body if you don't know about and practice
safer sex -
Watch 9 Months Of Gestation In 30 Seconds
May is National Teen Pregnancy
Prevention month (see how many babies have been born to
mothers under 15 so
far this year
One Million
Teen Pregnancies Each Year
Related
Issues: Talking
With Kids About Tough Issues,
Reproduction,
STDS,
Contraception,
Condoms,
Safer
Sex, Teen
Sex, Impotency,
General
exuality
After rising 23% between 1972 and 1990, pregnancies among girls between the ages of 15 and 19 declined 17% between 1990 and 1996. The teen birth rate dropped by 20% between 1991 and 1999, to approximately 50 births per 1,000 young women. So is the drop in teen pregnancies due to fewer adolescents having sex or to better contraception use among those who are sexually active? The answer depends on whom you ask. Groups promoting abstinence until marriage say their message is finally getting through, and statistics do suggest fewer teens are having sex than a decade ago. High-profile celebrities who have gone public with their virginity, such as pop singer Jessica Simpson and NBA star A.C. Green, have helped to give the abstinence movement a certain cachet among the young. "I go to a private school, and the majority of my peers are abstinent," 18-year-old high school junior Nick Reid tells WebMD. "I don't know if you can say that at most public schools, but that may be a gross generalization." Reid, who lives in Nashville, serves on the NCPTP's youth leadership team. A report from the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the nation's largest nonprofit organization studying reproductive health, suggests three-fourths of the recent decline in pregnancies among teens is due to better contraceptive use and only one-fourth is due to abstinence. "If people are suggesting that abstinence is the primary reason for the decline in pregnancy rates, that is just not accurate," says Cynthia Dailard, senior policy analyst with the institute. "We see politicians, including the president, pushing abstinence-only education and calling for teens to abstain from sex. But research shows that comprehensive methods of sexual education that discuss methods of contraception, while encouraging teenagers to delay sexual activity, are most effective." Abstinence vs. Contraception As a presidential candidate, George W. Bush repeatedly expressed his support for abstinence-only school-based programs, saying a top administration priority would be to "elevate abstinence education from an afterthought to an urgent goal." In a speech delivered in July 1999, candidate Bush said, "It seems like to me the contraceptive message sends a contradictory message. It tends to undermine the message of abstinence." The comments appear to contradict the findings of the nation's top public and private health organizations. A National Institutes of Health report, published in 1997, called sexual abstinence a desirable objective, but added that, "programs must include instruction in safer sex behavior, including condom use." The American Academy of Pediatrics weighed in on the issue in a report published early in 2001, noting that "all adolescents should be counseled about the correct and consistent use of latex condoms to reduce the risk of infection." And a newly released NCPTP study evaluating sex education programs found that education efforts that discuss contraception use do not hasten the onset of sex, increase the frequency of sex, nor increase the number of sexual partners among teens. Likewise, making condoms and other contraceptives available in schools does not hasten or increase sexual activity, the report concluded. A survey of parents, conducted last year by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, found that four out of five agreed that information about contraceptives should be included in school-based sex education programs. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy survey found that more than 90% of adults and teens said a strong abstinence message is important, but 69% of adults and 67% of teens said it was also important to teach contraception. "Only a handful of conservative politicians are pushing the more stringent abstinence education, but they are very powerful," Dailard says. "And parents and teachers aren't willing to be real vocal about this issue." Sanden calls the debate over abstinence vs. contraceptive use counterproductive and irrelevant, and high school junior Reid agrees. "The fact is, teens need to choose either abstinence or contraception, and many aren't motivated to make that choice." Sanden says. "Kids who don't think about this ahead of time are the ones who have a huge risk of getting pregnant." "I think you can get into a war of words with the abstinence vs. contraception debate, and you probably won't go anywhere with that," Reid adds. "Abstinence is the best and most desired method of preventing pregnancy, but it is also not very realistic for many teens." Opening the Dialogue So how do parents approach discussions of sex with their children? First, don't hesitate to express your own opinions about what is appropriate behavior, according to recommendations from the NCPTP. Make sure the discussions are age-appropriate, but be prepared to get specific with older children and teens. Monitoring the magazines they read and the television they watch may be a good way of easing into discussions of sex, Sanders says. She admits that it takes some courage to watch teen-oriented nighttime soap operas like "Dawson's Creek" and "7th Heaven" with your kids. A story line on "Dawson's Creek" this season, for example, had main characters Joey and Pacey having sex, and Joey fearing that she might be pregnant. "You may be cringing the whole time you are sitting there watching, but later on it is going to pay off," she says. "Instead of throwing up your hands and ranting about how the media is such a terrible influence, you could use the situation to talk about the consequences of sex." Teens, Reid says, need to feel they can talk to their parents about sex. "I think parents are pretty
uncomfortable talking about sex, but it is important and
they need to address it," he says. "Kids do respect their
parents' opinions, but the parents don't really know that.
They don't think they have an influence, but they actually
do."
Twenty-five percent of adolescents who have one baby have a second baby within two years of the first baby's birth. In 1996, 22 percent of all births to 15-19 year old young women in the US were repeat births, i.e. a second birth or higher. The second baby born to an adolescent mother is at higher risk than the first baby to be low birth weight. Adolescent mothers who return to school after the first birth are less likely to have a repeat birth in the first year after the first birth. The children of adolescent mothers are at increased risk for being a teen parent themselves. The children of adolescent mothers are at increased risk for dropping out of school as adolescents. The children of adolescent mothers who
continue to have close ties with their fathers while they
are growing up have better outcomes in education and
employment as adults.
Research from The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, or NCPTP, found that sex education programs discussing and/or providing contraception did not hasten the onset of sex, increase the frequency of sex, or increase the number of sexual partners teens had. "We now know that several different types of programs actually do reduce sexual risk-taking behavior, either by delaying sex or increasing condom and contraceptive use," study author Douglas Kirby, PhD, tells WebMD. "This research shows that a variety of different programs are effective. This is important because it means organizations and communities can pursue different approaches and still have an impact upon teen pregnancies." Kirby reviewed research on a wide range of programs aimed at children and teens, including school-based sexuality and abstinence programs, those associated with contraceptive and family planning clinics, those focusing on voluntary community service, and those combining education, healthcare, community involvement, and recreation. As a presidential candidate, George W. Bush repeatedly expressed his support for abstinence-only school-based programs, saying a top administration priority would be to "elevate abstinence education from an afterthought to an urgent goal." In a speech delivered in July 1999, candidate Bush said, "It seems like to me the contraceptive message sends a contradictory message. It tends to undermine the message of abstinence." According to Kirby, there have not been enough good studies to determine whether abstinence-only education is effective in reducing teen pregnancies. A large, federally funded study addressing the question is now under way, but findings aren't expected for several years. "We don't know whether abstinence-only programs work. They might or they might not," Kirby says. "But the evidence is overwhelming that talking about condoms and contraception, while emphasizing abstinence, does not increase sexual activity among young people." Approximately 1 million teenage girls get pregnant in the United States each year, by far the highest rate of teen pregnancies of any industrialized nation, and eight out of 10 are unplanned, according to NCPTP figures. After rising 23% between 1972 and 1990, pregnancies among girls between the ages of 15 and 19 declined 17% between 1990 and 1996. The teen birth rate dropped by 20% between 1991 and 1999, to approximately 50 births per 1,000 young women. The report, released today, highlighted several types of programs that are effective in delaying the onset of sex among teens, improving contraceptive use, and preventing pregnancy. Several programs focusing on sex and HIV education, with strong condom and contraception components, were found to successfully do all three. Some programs that do not address sex at all, but instead get teens involved in volunteer work within the community, were found to have a significant impact on teen pregnancy. "To be honest, we don't know why these programs are effective in reducing teen pregnancy," Kirby says. "It may be that they keep kids busy, or they may increase self esteem and cause kids to think about the future. For some very high-risk youth, participation in these programs may represent one of the first times that they are recognized by adults and the community for doing good, and that, in turn, makes them feel good about themselves." The NCPTP report suggests that comprehensive programs incorporating a host of services for teens and preteens may be the most successful in reducing pregnancies over the long-term among high-risk adolescents. Among the best of these programs, the report found, is the Children's Aid Society Carrera program in New York. Founded in 1985 in central Harlem by Michael A. Carrera, PhD, the program is now the model for 50 similar programs operating in 20 states. In addition to counseling and medical services, kids receive general education, sex education, and help finding after-school jobs. They are also given the opportunity to participate in sports and the performing arts. Although other programs take a comprehensive approach to dealing with at-risk children and adolescents, Carrera says his program is unique because kids are followed closely and treated more like family than program participants. "When a kid enters our program at 11, 12, or 13, we generally work with them until they graduate from high school," Carrera tells WebMD. "We see these kids almost every day, 12 months a year. And if they don't show up, we go and find them. There is a person on staff whose sole job is to track kids once they are in the program." Program officials also released their own report Wednesday, outlining the findings from a three-year evaluation of six New York City sites and six sites in other urban areas. There were one-third fewer pregnancies and births among the 941 program participants than among a control group. Young girls in the program were also found to be able to avoid coercive sexual situations better than those who did not participate in the program. "That is a stunning outcome, because it can easily impact a young woman's sexuality for the rest of her life," Carrera says. "If you can help a young woman withstand coercive sexual pressure, you may be influencing how she deals with sexual pressure from then on." The Carrera program, while effective, is also expensive -- about $4,000 per year per child. It is funded entirely through private contributions, with the largest grants coming from the Robin Hood Foundation in New York City and Michigan's Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. "The federal government has basically
stayed away from programs that provide reproductive
healthcare services that include contraception," Carrera
says. "I would urge them to take a very careful look at this
study and what we do. Without equivocation it indicates that
we do know how to prevent teen pregnancy, and the government
needs to have the will to enact it."
The latest look at U.S. pregnancy trends also shows more women are keeping their babies even if they are not married, with the exception of black women. While 45 percent of all pregnancies are among women who are not married, the typical "unwed mother" is no longer a teenager but in fact an older woman, said Stephanie Ventura of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. "More of them are likely to have the baby rather than having an abortion compared to 1990," Ventura, who led the study, said in a telephone interview. The report found that nearly 38 percent of pregnancies in 2004 were to women under the age of 25, which is down from nearly 43 percent in 1990. Just 12 percent of all pregnancies were to teenagers, compared to 15 percent in 1990. Overall, there were almost 6.4 million pregnancies in 2004 among U.S. women of all ages, down 6 percent from 1990. Out of these pregnancies, 4.11 million babies were born. There were 1.22 million abortions and 1.06 million stillbirths and miscarriages. That means 64 percent of all pregnancies resulted in a live birth. In 2006, 4.3 million live babies were born but data is not yet complete on abortions. Ventura said it takes years to gather this kind of data. Better Contraception She said other studies have shed light on why pregnancy rates are going down among teens. "There have been some changes in behavioral and contraceptive use among teenagers who are sexually active," Ventura said. The report said pregnancy rates fell the most among sexually experienced teens, suggesting that better use of contraception may be responsible. "There is some evidence that contraceptive use (for example, at first intercourse and at most recent intercourse) was increasing among teenagers through 2002," they wrote. Meanwhile, more women are delaying childbearing. "Among older women, birth rates have been going up -- that's something we have been watching for 20 to 30 years," Ventura said. According to the study, 77 percent of births to unmarried women in 2006 were to women 20 and older. "I guess maybe it is changes in attitude and a willingness to have children when you are not married and that kind of thing," Ventura said. About 3.5 million pregnancies were among married women and 2.98 million were to unmarried women. "There are large racial disparities in most of these measures," Ventura said. About two-thirds of white and Hispanic women who got pregnant ended up having their babies while 48 percent of black women did. Thirty seven percent of pregnancies to black women were aborted. There are two possible reasons for this, the report found. "First, non-Hispanic black women were less likely to use a contraceptive method at first intercourse and currently than white women," the researchers wrote. Second, blacks had double the rate of
"contraceptive failure" compared to whites.
In many cases, young women want to
become pregnant for the same or similar reasons older women
want to become pregnant (excerpted and adapted from the
forthcoming Scarleteen book by Heather Corinna)
Can you, as a parent, steer the course of your teenager's sexual behaviour? The answer is: it depends. Parents who live in tightly knit social or religious communities that condemn premarital sex may find it easier to steer their teenagers' sexual choices. In mainstream society, parental control may be more tenuous. The strategy of ordering teens to abstain from sex has not proven very successful, whether the order comes from parents or from community initiatives (unless these iniatives were developed by the teens themselves). Still, research shows that teens whose parents communicate with them tend to have less sex, and more responsible sex, than teens of noncommunicative parents. Teenagers have the ability to think
abstractly and to consider the consequences of their
behaviour, but they also have a developmentally appropriate
streak of independence that may lead them to resist any
"orders from on high." You stand a better chance of reaching
them by inviting a two-way discussion about sexuality than
by trying to impose your views on them - or ignoring the
issue altogether. Not knowing about sex doesn't prevent
teens from having it, often to disastrous consequences.
Sources: www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/teen.htm
• The teen pregnancy rate continued to decrease in 2003 and 2004. The teen pregnancy rate in 2004 was 72.2 pregnancies per 1,000 teen girls aged 15-19. There were a total of 729,000 pregnancies to teen girls age 15-19 in 2004. • The teen pregnancy rate has decreased 38% between 1990 and 2004 (from 116.8 per 1,000 to 72.2 per 1,000 respectively). Rates by Age • The teen pregnancy rate for girls under 15 years was 1.6 pregnancies per 1,000 girls in 2004. A decrease of 53% since 1990 (rate of 3.4 per 1,000). Note that the pregnancy rate for girls under 15 did not change between 2003 and 2004. There were a total of 16,000 pregnancies in 2004 to girls under 15 years of age. • The teen pregnancy rate for girls age 15-17 years was 41.5 pregnancies per 1,000 girls in 2004. A decrease of 46% since 1990 (rate of 77.1 per 1,000). The pregnancy rate for girls age 15-17 also decreased 6% since 2002. There were a total of 252,000 pregnancies in 2004 to girls age 15-17. • The teen pregnancy rate for girls age 18-19 years was 118.6 pregnancies per 1,000 girls in 2004. A decrease of 29% since 2002 (rate of 167.7 per 1,000). The pregnancy rate for girls age 18-19 also decreased 5% since 2002. There were a total of 477,000 pregnancies in 2004 to girls age 18-19. Rates by Race/Ethnicity (aged 15-19) • The teen pregnancy rate was 45.2 per 1,000 for non-Hispanic white teen girls in 2004. Since 1990, the teen pregnancy rate has decreased 48% among non-Hispanic white teens. Among non-Hispanic white teen girls by age the teen pregnancy rate was 22.4 per 1,000 and 79.3 per 1,000 for girls age 15-17 and 18-19 respectively. There were a total of 289,000 pregnancies to non-Hispanic white teens in 2004. • The teen pregnancy rate was 128 per 1,000 for non-Hispanic black teen girls in 2004. Since 1990, the teen pregnancy rate among non-Hispanic black teen girls has decreased 45%. Among non-Hispanic black teen girls by age the pregnancy rate is 80.1 per 1,000 teen girls age 15-17 and 202.9 per 1,000 teen girls age 18-19. Since 1990, the pregnancy rate has decreased 53% among non-Hispanic black teens aged 15-17 and has decreased 35% among non-Hispanic black teens age 18-19). There were a total of 198,000 pregnancies to non-Hispanic black teens in 2004. • The teen pregnancy rate was 132.8 per 1,000 among Hispanic teen girls in 2004. Between 2003 and 2004, the teen pregnancy rate among Hispanic teen girls increased from 132.1 per 1,000 to 132.8 per 1,000. Since 1990, the teen pregnancy rate has decreased 21% among Hispanic teen girls. There were a total of 214,000 pregnancies to Hispanic teens in 2004. • Among young Hispanic teen girls (age 15-17) the teen pregnancy rate was 82.9 per 1,000, a slight increase between 2003 and 2004 (from 82.8 in 2003). Among older Hispanic teen girls (age 18-19) the
teen pregnancy rate was 210.0, an increase of 1% from 2003
(207.5 per 1,000). • Most very young teens have not had intercourse: 8 in 10 girls and 7 in 10 boys are sexually inexperienced at age 15. 1 • The likelihood of teenagers' having intercourse increases steadily with age; however, about 1 in 5 young people do not have intercourse while teenagers.2 • Most young people begin having sex in their mid-to-late teens, about 8 years before they marry; more than half of 17-year-olds have had intercourse.3 • While 93% of teenage women report that their first intercourse was voluntary, one-quarter of these young women report that it was unwanted.4 • The younger women are when they first have intercourse, the more likely they are to have had unwanted or nonvoluntary first sex--7 in 10 of those who had sex before age 13, for example.5 • Nearly two-thirds (64%) of sexually active 15-17-year-old women have partners who are within two years of their age; 29% have sexual partners who are 3-5 years older, and 7% have partners who are six or more years older.6 • Most sexually active young men have female partners close to their age: 76% of the partners of 19-year-old men are either 17 (33%) or 18 (43%); 13% are 16, and 11% are aged 13-15.7 Sex is rare among very young teenagers, but common in the later teenage years. 40% who have had sexual intercourse at different ages, 1995 Sources: 1995 National Survey of
Family Growth and 1995 National Survey of Adolescent
Males. • A sexually active teenager who does not use contraceptives has a 90% chance of becoming pregnant within one year. 8 • Teenage women's contraceptive use at first intercourse rose from 48% to 65% during the 1980s, almost entirely because of a doubling in condom use. By 1995, use at first intercourse reached 78%, with 2/3 of it condom use.9 • 9 in 10 sexually active women and their partners use a contraceptive method, although not always consistently or correctly.10 • About 1 in 6 teenage women practicing contraception combine two methods, primarily the condom and another method.11 • The method teenage women most frequently use is the pill (44%), followed by the condom (38%). About 10% rely on the injectable, 4% on withdrawal and 3% on the implant.12 • Teenagers are less likely than
older women to practice contraception without interruption
over the course of a year, and more likely to practice
contraception sporadically or not at all.13 • Every year 3 million teens--about 1 in 4 sexually experienced teens--acquire an STD.14 • In a single act of unprotected sex with an infected partner, a teenage woman has a 1% risk of acquiring HIV, a 30% risk of getting genital herpes and a 50% chance of contracting gonorrhea.15 • Chlamydia is more common among teens than among older men and women; in some settings, 10-29% of sexually active teenage women and 10% of teenage men tested for STDs have been found to have chlamydia.16 • Teens have higher rates of gonorrhea than do sexually active men and women aged 20-44.17 • In some studies, up to 15% of sexually active teenage women have been found to be infected with the human papillomavirus, many with a strain of the virus linked to cervical cancer.18 • Teenage women have a higher
hospitalization rate than older women for acute pelvic
inflammatory disease (PID), which is most often caused by
untreated gonorrhea or chlamydia. PID can lead to
infertility and ectopic pregnancy.19 • Each year, almost 1 million teenage women--10% of all women aged 15-19 and 19% of those who have had sexual intercourse--become pregnant.20 • The overall U.S. teenage pregnancy rate declined 17% between 1990 and 1996, from 117 pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15-19 to 97 per 1,000.21 • 78% of teen pregnancies are
unplanned, accounting for about 1/4 of all accidental
pregnancies annually.22 More than half (56%) of the 905,000 teenage pregnancies in 1996 ended in births (2/3 of which were unplanned). • 6 in 10 teen pregnancies occur among 18-19 year-olds.23 • Teen pregnancy rates are much higher in the United States than in many other developed countries--twice as high as in England and Wales or Canada, and nine times as high as in the Netherlands or Japan.24 • Steep decreases in the
pregnancy rate among sexually experienced teenagers
accounted for most of the drop in the overall teenage
pregnancy rate in the early-to-mid 1990s. While 20% of the
decline is because of decreased sexual activity, 80% is due
to more effective contraceptive practice.25 • 13% of all U.S. births are to teens.26 • The fathers of babies born to teenage mothers are likely to be older than the women: About 1 in 5 infants born to unmarried minors are fathered by men 5 or more years older than the mother.27 • 78% of births to teens occur outside of marriage.28 • Teens now account for 31% of all nonmarital births, down from 50% in 1970.29 • 1/4 of teenage mothers have a
second child within 2 years of their first.30 Teen Mothers and Their Children • Teens who give birth are much more likely to come from poor or low-income families (83%) than are teens who have abortions (61%) or teens in general (38%).31 • 7 in 10 teen mothers complete high school, but they are less likely than women who delay childbearing to go on to college.32 • In part because most teen mothers come from disadvantaged backgrounds, 28% of them are poor while in their 20s and early 30s; only 7% of women who first give birth after adolescence are poor at those ages.33 • 1/3 of pregnant teens receive
inadequate prenatal care; babies born to young mothers are
more likely to be low-birth-weight, to have childhood health
problems and to be hospitalized than are those born to older
mothers.34 • Nearly 4 in 10 teen pregnancies (excluding those ending in miscarriages) are terminated by abortion. There were about 274,000 abortions among teens in 1996.35 • Since 1980, abortion rates among sexually experienced teens have declined steadily, because fewer teens are becoming pregnant, and in recent years, fewer pregnant teens have chosen to have an abortion.36 • The reasons most often given by teens for choosing to have an abortion are being concerned about how having a baby would change their lives, feeling that they are not mature enough to have a child and having financial problems.37 • 29 states currently have mandatory parental involvement laws in effect for a minor seeking an abortion: AL, AR, DE, GA, ID, IN, IO, KS, KY, LA, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, NE, NC, ND, OH, PA, RI, SC, SD, UT, VA, WV, WI and WY.38 • 61% of minors who have abortions do so with at least one parent's knowledge; 45% of parents are told by their daughter. The great majority of parents support their daughter's decision to have an abortion.39 Sources The data in this
fact sheet are the most current available. Most of the data
are from research conducted by The Alan Guttmacher Institute
(AGI) or published in the peer-reviewed journal Family
Planning Perspectives and the 1994 AGI report Sex and
America's Teenagers. Additional sources include the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Center
for Health Statistics. Sexual Activity 1. Singh S and Darroch JE, Trends in sexual activity among adolescent American women: 1982- 1995, Family Planning Perspectives, 1999, 31(5): 211- 219; special tabulations by The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) of data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth; and Sonenstein FL et al., Involving Males in Preventing Teen Pregnancy: A Guide for Program Planners, Washington, DC: The Urban Institute, 1997, p. 12. 2. Ibid. 3. AGI, Sex and America's Teenagers, New York: AGI, 1994, pp. 19-20. 4. Moore KA et al., A Statistical Portrait of Adolescent Sex, Contraception, and Childbearing, Washington, DC: National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 1998, p. 11. 5. Ibid. 6. Darroch JE, Landry DJ and Oslak S, Age differences between sexual partners in the United States, Family Planning Perspectives, 1999, 31(4):160- 167, Table 1. 7. Sonenstein FL et al., 1997, op. cit. (see reference 1), p. 18. Contraceptive Use 8. Harlap S, Kost K and Forrest JD, Preventing Pregnancy, Protecting Health: A New Look at Birth Control Choices in the United States, New York: AGI, 1991, Figure 5.4, p. 36. 9. AGI, 1994, op. cit. (see reference 3), Figure 22, p. 33; and Moore KA et al., 1998, op. cit. (see reference 4), p. 23. 10. Piccinino LJ and Mosher WD, Trends in contraceptive use in the United States: 1982-1995, Family Planning Perspectives, 1998, 30(1):4-10 & 46, Table 1; and Moore KA et al., 1998, op. cit. (see reference 4), p. 25. 11. Piccinino LJ and Mosher WD, 1998, op. cit. (see reference 10), Table 8. 12. Special tabulations by The Alan Guttmacher Institute of Ibid, Table 5 and of data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth. 13. Glei DA, Measuring contraceptive use patterns among teenage and adult women, Family Planning Perspectives, 1999, 31(2):73- 80, Tables 1 and 2. Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) 14. AGI, 1994, op. cit. (see reference 3), p. 38. 15. Ibid., p. 31. 16. Donovan P, Testing Positive: Sexually Transmitted Disease and the Public Health Response, New York: AGI, 1993, p. 24. 17. Ibid. 18. Ibid., pp. 24-25. 19. Ibid., p. 24. Teen Pregnancy 20. AGI, Teenage pregnancy: overall trends and state-by-state information, New York: AGI, 1999, Table 1; and Henshaw SK, U.S. Teenage pregnancy statistics with comparative statistics for women aged 20- 24, New York: AGI, 1999, p. 5. 21. Ibid. 22. Henshaw SK, Unintended pregnancy in the United States, Family Planning Perspectives, 1998, 30(1):24-29 & 46, Table 1. 23. Henshaw SK, 1999, op. cit. (see reference 20). 24. AGI, 1994, op. cit. (see reference 3), Figure 55, p. 76. 25. AGI, U.S. teenage pregnancy rate drops another 4% between 1995 and 1996, news release, New York: AGI, April 29, 1999. Childbearing 26. Ventura SJ et al., Births: final data for 1997, National Vital Statistics Report, 1997, Vol. 47, No. 18, Table 2. 27. Lindberg LD et al., Age differences between minors who give birth and their adult partners, Family Planning Perspectives, 1997, 29(2):61-66. 28. Ventura SJ et al., 1997, op. cit. (see reference 26), Table 2. 29. Ibid., Table C; and National Center for Health Statistics, Vital Statistics of the United States, 1970: Vol. 1--Natality, Rockville, MD: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1975. 30. Kalmuss DS and Namerow PB, Subsequent childbearing among teenage mothers: the determinants of a closely spaced second birth, Family Planning Perspectives, 1994, 26(4): 149-153 & 159. Teen Mothers And Their Children 31. AGI, 1994, op. cit. (see reference 3), p. 58. 32. Ibid., p. 59. 33. Ibid., p. 61. 34. Ibid., p. 62. Abortion 35. AGI, 1999, op. cit. (see reference 20). 36. Ibid. 37. Torres A and Forrest JD, Why do women have abortions? Family Planning Perspectives, 1988, 20(4):169-176, Table 1. 38. AGI, The status of major abortion-related policies in the states: state laws, regulations and court decisions as of July 1999, Washington, DC: AGI, 1999. 39. Henshaw SK and Kost K, Parental involvement in minors' abortion decisions, Family Planning Perspectives, 1992, 24(5):196-207 & 213. 40. CHART 1--Sources: reference 1. 41. CHART 2--Source: Henshaw SK, (reference 20), Table 1. Source: www.agi-usa.org/pubs/fb_teen_sex.html
1. Stay calm 2. Write a letter if you need to 3. Make a plan beforehand 4. If you plan to continue the pregnancy, be specific about the future. Explain how you’ll finish school, provide for the baby, etc. 5. Bring a supportive friend or relative along 6. Tell them first--don’t let them hear it somewhere else 7. If they freak out, leave for a bit and come back later. Hopefully they will have calmed down a little.
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