Preventing Teen Pregnancy: Why It Matters
The National Campaign To Prevent Teen Pregnancy
What if?
The teen birth declined by one-third between 1991 and 2002. But…what if it had not? What if the teen birth rate had stayed at the 1991 level?
• 1.2 million more children would have been born to teen mothers in the U.S.
• 460,000 additional children would be living in poverty.
• 700,000 more children would be living in single mother households.
What are the chances?
What are the chances of a child growing up in poverty if: (1) the mother gave birth as teen, (2) the parents were unmarried when the child was born and (3) the mother did not receive a high school diploma or GED.
• 27% if one of these things happens.
• 42% if two of these things happen.
• 64% if three of these things happen.
• But, if none of these things happen, a child’s chance of growing up in poverty is 7%.
• Put another way, if these three things happen, a child’s chance of growing up in poverty is 9 times greater than if none of these things happens.
A wise investment?
Teen childbearing costs taxpayers at least $7 billion each year. Moreover, the decrease in the
teen birth rate between 1995 and 2002 is directly responsible for:
• 26% of the decrease in the number of children under age six living in poverty.
• 68% of the decrease in the number of children under age six living with single mothers.
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Despite significant progress since the early 1990’s, the U.S. still has the highest rate of teen pregnancy among comparable countries. Despite less sexual activity among teens, 34 percent of girls in this country become pregnancy by age 20. Well over 400,000 teens have children each year, most of them unplanned, almost all of them out-of-wedlock. Clearly, preventing teen pregnancy is a highly effective and efficient way to reduce poverty and improve overall child and family well being.
To find out more about teen pregnancy prevention and abstinence programming in Ohio follow this link to the Ohio State Department of Health:
Ohio Abstinence Education Law mandates the use of an abstinence only curriculum. The RSVP program used by the School Outreach Prevention Program meets all of the requirements stated in Ohio’s Abstinence Education Law. For more information about Ohio’s Abstinence Education Law, follow the link below to the printable ODH handout that lists these requirements:
