Teenage Sex and Pregnancy by Peggy J. Parks

Altogether, about 18 percent of women, or one of every six females, become teen mothers, and in several southern and southwestern states this percentage is as high as 25–30 percent (Perper & Manlove, 2009).Īlthough teenaged pregnancies (and births from these pregnancies) are far from the majority of all pregnancies, unplanned or planned, they pose special problems (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2011 Anderson, 2011). These two figures add to 750,000 teenage pregnancies annually, with some 400,000 births resulting from these pregnancies (Kost, Henshaw, & Carlin, 2010).

The cost of medical services for unplanned pregnancies and for the infants that are born from many of them cost the nation more than $11 billion annually (Gold, 2011).Ībout one-fifth of all unplanned pregnancies, or almost 700,000 annually, occur to teenagers another 50,000 teenage pregnancies are planned. Putting all these numbers together, about 1.6 million live births happen each year as a result of unplanned pregnancies (National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 2011).

Approximately 40 percent of these unplanned pregnancies end in abortion, and about 10 percent end by miscarriage. About one-half of all pregnancies in the United States, or more than 3 million pregnancies annually, are unplanned. Most teenage pregnancies and births are unplanned and are part of a more general problem for all women in their childbearing years. However, it was still twice as high as Canada’s rate and much higher yet than other Western democracies (see Figure 9.4 “Teenage Birth Rates in Selected Western Democracies (Number of Annual Births per 1,000 Women Aged 15–19)”). This rate represented a substantial decline from the early 1990s, when the rate reached a peak of almost 60. The birth rate for females aged 15–19 in 2009 was 39.1 births per 1,000 females. In their most recent act of sexual intercourse, almost 86 percent of girls and 93 percent of boys used contraception, again most often a condom.

About three-fourths of girls in today’s sexually experienced group and 85 percent of boys in this group use contraception, most often a condom, the first time they ever have sex.

About 43 percent of never-married teens ages 15–19 of both sexes have had sexual intercourse (Martinez et al., 2011) this percentage represents a drop from its highest point, in 1988, of 51 percent for females and of 60 percent for males. As noted earlier, teenagers are much more sexually active today than they were before the sexual revolution.

Teenage Sex and Pregnancy by Peggy J. Parks