15 Facts About Teen Pregnancy You Need to Know
Your teenage years can be a rollercoaster of emotions and that's without exaggerating. You're only a teen for a few years, but so much can happen in such a short amount of time. The older people around you probably want to prep you for adulthood and sometimes it can feel like you're being pressured to have it all figured out, which means every day is full of decisions. Some are smaller, like deciding what to wear to homecoming, and some are bigger, like figuring out what colleges you'll be applying to or whether you're ready to get intimate with someone. There's so much already on your plate during your teen years that you're not even thinking about having children and if you are thinking about children already, the thought may be something like "not till I'm 30."
But if you're already having sex, pregnancy is actually a very real possibility, even if it's not your intention. So many things can lead to an unplanned teen pregnancy. There is no contraceptive that's 100% effective. Condoms can break or your birth control can fail. These things happen, but it's ok if you unexpectedly find yourself facing a teen pregnancy. There's help out there, even if your parents aren't exactly supportive or you find that it's easier to talk to someone outside of your circle or immediate family. You should never feel like you're going through this life-changing moment alone. In fact, at least three in ten girls will get pregnant before they're 20. There's a lot of misinformation out there, so here are some real teen pregnancy facts.
1. 3 in 10 teen American girls will get pregnant at least once before they turn 20.
According to the report, in 2008, 750,000 girls under 20 became pregnant. That's nearly a million. 733,00 of those women were aged between 15 and 19, while 13,500 of them were 14 and younger.
Source: Guttmacher Institute, U.S. Teenage Pregnancies, Births and Abortions, 2008: National Trends by Age, Race and Ethnicity
2. The United States has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the industrialized world.
American teens are two times as likely to give birth as teens in Canada and almost ten times as likely as teens in Switzerland. This report found that the rate of teen pregnancy in the U.S. may be related to income equality. In other words, the poorer you are, the more you're likely to have a child while young.
Source: National Center for Biotechnology Information, Why is the teen birth rate in the United States so high and why does it matter?
3. About 82 percent of teenage pregnancies are unintended.
According to Planned Parenthood, in 2006, teen pregnancies accounted for a fifth of all accidental pregnancies in the U.S.
Source: Planned Parenthood, Pregnancy and Childbearing Among U.S. Teens
4. About 25% of teen moms have a 2nd child within 24 months of their first baby.
It's not uncommon for a teen mom to have more than one child.
Source: Health Research Funding, 22 Important Unplanned Teenage Pregnancy Statistics
5. In 2017, a total of 194,377 babies were born to women between 15 and19 years, for a birth rate of 18.8 per 1,000 women in this age group.
Though compared to other countries, U.S. teen pregnancy rates are high, the numbers are going down year by year. The 2017 teen pregnancy birth rate experienced a 7% drop from the 2016 rate. The report speculated that the declining rate may be due to more teens practicing abstinence or using effective birth control methods.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Reproductive Health: Teen Pregnancy
6. Teens who are sexually active and don't use contraceptives have a 90% chance of becoming pregnant within a year.
Unprotected sex can also lead to other others, like the risk of getting an STD if your partner is infected.
Source: ACLU, Preventing Teenagers From Getting Contraceptive Unless They Tell a Parent Puts Teens at Risk
7. Pregnancy and birth are contributors to the high school dropout rates among girls.
Teen mothers have a lower chance of ultimately achieving a high school degree. Only about 50% of teen mothers receive a high school diploma by the time they're 22, while about 90% of girls who don't give birth as an adolescent graduate from high school.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Reproductive Health: Teen Pregnancy
8. In one survey, 22% of females and 14% of teen males reported that they did not use a contraceptive the first time they had sex.
According to a study, those who use condoms the first time they have sex are more likely to use protection in the future than those who said they didn't use condoms the first time.
Source: Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation, Sexual Health of Adolescents and Young Adults in the United States
9. Growing up in foster care has also been linked to higher rates of teen pregnancy.
Young women in foster care are twice more likely to become pregnant by the time they're 19 than those who are not. Studies have found that this could be linked to the fact that young women in foster care are not motivated to delay having a child. Having a child may fill an emotional void for some people.
Source: Guttmacher Institute, Teen Pregnancy Among Young Women In Foster Care: A Primer
10. Not all teen pregnancies end up in someone giving birth.
Since 77% of teen pregnancies are unplanned, some of them do end up in abortion. In fact, one study found that in 2013, 61% of the pregnant women ended up giving birth. 15% of these women suffered a miscarriage and 25% ended in abortion.
Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Trends in Teen Pregnancy and Childbearing
11. Teen mothers are more likely to end up impoverished and on public assistance programs, like welfare.
They're also likely to remain impoverished as adults.
Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Trends in Teen Pregnancy and Childbearing
12. Native American, Black and Hispanic women are more likely to become pregnant as teens than white women.
Though birth rates have fallen, African American, Hispanic and Native American teens are twice as likely to get pregnant than White and Asian American teens.
Source: Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation, Sexual Health of Adolescents and Young Adults in the United States
13. 8 out of 10 teen dads, about 80%, don’t marry the mother of their child.
Becoming a father in your teens appears to be associated with some negative consequences, as well. They're also less likely to finish high school.
Source: Do Something, 11 Facts About Teen Dads
14. If your partner is older, you're more likely to become pregnant than those with partners closer in age.
One study found that 6.7 percent of women between 15 and 17 have partners who are six or more years older than them. These women are 3.7 times more likely to become pregnant than those whose partner is no more than two years older.
Source: Planned Parenthood, Pregnancy and Childbearing Among U.S. Teens
15. Evidence has found that sex education programs can prevent teen pregnancies.
This is because these programs may help make teens more likely to use condoms and birth control if they're sexual active or delay sex, reduce their number of partners or reduce the frequency they have sex.
Source: Planned Parenthood, New CDC Report on U.S. Teens’ Sexual Behavior Illustrates Adolescents’ Continued Need for Sex Education and Effective Birth Control
If you're facing a teen pregnancy, there are many organizations you can reach out to. Some include Planned Parenthood, StandUpGirl and Birthright International.
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