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I’ve heard teen pregnancy considered an “epidemic” before. According to trends, reports, and statistics more and more teens are becoming sexually active which leads to more teens becoming pregnant. It’s a good possibility that if you are in an unplanned pregnancy and reading this blog, you could be a teenager. I though it would be interesting to explore teen 
pregnancy and talk with a teen that parented as a teenager as well as a teen that has placed a child for adoption. So I’ll be beginning a series on teen pregnancy over the next few posts/days. As always the nerd in me comes out and I must begin with the numbers and statistics to lead up to the personal stories.
Statistics on Teen Pregnancies in the United States:
- 13 % of US births are to teenagers (10-17 year olds)
- 78 % of teen pregnancies are unplanned (I was actually a little shocked to read this as a statistic. It seems like a no brainer to me. I don’t know of many teens that go out and purposely plan a pregnancy.)
- In 2000 (most current year I could find a statistic for) 468,990 teenagers gave birth. This does not take into account the number of teens who actually get pregnant and had an abortion.
- Approximately one million teenage girls become pregnant each year.
- Only about one third of teenage mothers go on to receive a high school diploma.
How can we help the teen pregnancy rates decline?
Sex education that educates teens about birth control as well as abstinence is one solution that can help to reduce teen pregnancy rates. Traditionally only abstinence was taught in sex education classes and while it’s well intended in today’s society, it’s kind of unrealistic. Sex education classes that teach methods of birth control are becoming more widespread. I did read a few reports that said teen pregnancy rates have declined a bit, so something must be working!
What can we do to help teens who are pregnant succeed?
Charter schools for pregnant teenagers in which they can continue their education while pregnant, learn parenting skills, and still receive a high school diploma also help pregnant teenagers to still gain resources to support themselves and their baby once out of high school and help them gain their high school diploma.
To be continued……..
Sources: Teen Pregnancy Stats
Startling stats, unfortunaly I know of one of them myself. My oldest child’s biological half sibling (who remained with her bio family) left school at 17 and had a baby. She plans to get her GED & we offer her our support and prayers…..but the stats say it will be a longshot.
I sometimes question some of the stats about how poorly many young moms fare. Plenty of young mothers finish high school and go on to college. I think the programs that help young parents can help alot.
In the olden days, (my era), I wouldn’t doubt that many young women did not finish h.s. You had to leave regular schools if they found out you were pregnant. At least we have moved past that.
Sure agree that teaching abstinence is ineffective!
I agree about abstinence, though it is well intended, is not up to date with this era. It is good to know that teen pregnancy rates are declining some. Thanks for sharing this info Coley.
Two thoughts:
I think that teaching abstinance is beyond ineffective and on into the territory of counterproductive, in that it sends a message to teens that there are no adults with whom they can discuss birth control options, and gives the impression that maybe it’s not really so important after all.
On planned teenage pregnancy – it’s not always such a no-brainer. In the area where I grew up, there are many families who came to the US as refugees, and as a consequence, many families trying to preserve aspects of their culture while making their home in the US. For some young women, this means that the family expectation is that they will marry young and start their families, while outside society will condemn them for doing just that. What a hard position to be in! Because my mom runs a high school program for pregnant and parenting teens, I have met many of these women, and seen some wonderful teenage mommies doing an amazing job of bridging the gap between what their families and their peers expect of them, and bringing up fantastic kids (in fact, this applies to many teenage parents, whether they planned to be young parents or not).
Looking forward to your interviews!
Sara
I was one of those stats 37 years ago. Birth control was illegal for anyone under 18 at the same time ‘free love’ was touted everywhere. Good plan, heh?
Had I had the option, I would have used it. Telling me not to ‘do it’ was not at all helpful, nor did it influence me (or my boyfriend) at all.
I had to leave school, but finished high school through night classes, then college, while parenting eventually two little ones. It was tough, but it was what I wanted to do with my life then.
That’s interesting Sara. I did not realize that. Thanks for sharing!
Yep, Sandra and I have similar stories. I too had to leave high school and finish at night. I finished nearly 3 years of college later.
All young women won’t make great parents, but many do.
I think another good point to add to the sex ed is to give more information about STDs. I think if I had learned more about that it would have scared me away from having sex so early. I remember in my sex ed class they talked so briefly about anything about the act of sex or the concequences of it that it probably added to the curiosity of the adolescents. It was basicly a rundown of textbook pictures of what the reproductive systems looked like. Nothing more, Nothing less.
One thing I’d like to add about the sex ed side of things…
Having been pregnant at 17, I was determined to arm my kids with all the information I could in hopes they’d make good choices. One thing that I know did work was total honesty about ‘the act’ … letting my daughter know that teen boys are not the best lovers … and giving her tips on some options that make boyfriends happy as clams (so to speak) without taking any risks. (I won’t go into detail, but I’m sure you know what I mean.)
Years later, as a married woman and mother, she let me know just how helpful that info was. It may not be a comfortable conversation to have with your child, but it sure can make a difference.
I have no regrets about my early motherhood, but my life sure would have been different is someone had let me know about… well, you know.