With over 200,000 babies being born to teenage women in the US, teenage pregnancy or adolescent pregnancy isn’t an uncommon occurrence. (American Pregnancy Association, n.d.).
Teenage parenthood refers to males and females under the age of 20 who become parents.
There were nearly 250,000 babies born in 2014 to teen moms, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. About 77 percent of these pregnancies were unplanned. (Healthline.com, n.d.).
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Substantially higher in the U.S. than in other western industrialized nations
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194,377 babies were born to women aged 15-19 in 2017
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Birth rates fell 10% for women aged 15-17 years and 6% for women 18-19 years since 2016
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There are significant differences in teen birth rates across racial and ethnic groups, geographic regions, rural and urban areas, and age groups.
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Adolescent pregnancy and parenthood are associated with social, health and financial costs to teen parents, families and states.
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Only about half of teen mothers earn a high school diploma by age 22, compared to 90 percent of women without a teen birth.
"Teen Pregnancy Prevention", 2018"
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Adolescent parenthood: primarily women and men nineteen years or younger who give birth to and elect to parent a child. (Encyclopedia.com, n.d.).
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Teenage pregnancy: a pregnancy that occurs for a woman under the age of 20. Although technically not a teenager, a young woman 12 or under who is pregnant falls into this definition of teenage pregnancy as well. (American Pregnancy Association, n.d.).
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Contraception: the deliberate use of artificial methods or other techniques to prevent pregnancy as a consequence of sexual intercourse. (Dictionary.com, n.d.).
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Adoption: the action or fact of legally taking another's child and bringing it up as one's own, or the fact of being adopted. (Dictionary.com, n.d.).
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Abortion: the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy. (Dictionary.com, n.d.).
Teenage Parenthood in the United States
