The Situation in The United States

The United States has the highest rates of teen pregnancy and births in the western industrialized world. Teen pregnancy costs the United States at least $9 billion annually.1

Thirty-one percent of young women become pregnant at least once before they reach the age of 202 -- about 750,000 a year.3 Eight in ten of these pregnancies are unintended4 and 81 percent are to unmarried teens.

The teen birth rate has declined slowly but steadily from 1991 to 2005 with a decline of 35 percent for those aged 15 to 19. These recent declines reverse the 23-percent rise in the teenage birth rate from 1986 to 1991. The largest decline since 1991 by race was for black women. The birth rate for black teens aged 15 to 19 fell 48 percent between 1991 to 2006. Hispanic teen birth rates declined 22 percent between 1991 and 2005. The rates of both Hispanics and blacks, however, remain higher than for other groups. Hispanic teens now have the highest teenage birth rates. Most teenagers giving birth before 1980 were married whereas most teens giving birth today are unmarried.5 For more detail, including state by state rates.

The younger a teenaged girl is when she has sex for the first time, the more likely she is to have had unwanted or non-voluntary sex. Close to four in ten girls who had first intercourse at 13 or 14 report it was either non-voluntary or unwanted.6

"teenpregnancy." teenpregnancy.org. 28 6 2006 . The National Campaign To Prevent Teen Pregnancy. 28 Jun 2007 .