Teenage Pregnancy
The U.S. teen birth rose in 2006—the first increase in 14 years. The teen birth rate in Washington has remained the same. This increase in teen births may indicate that abstinence-only education is failing to inform teens on how to protect themselves, and that access to family planning services is declining.
What if?
If the teen birth rate had increased in Washington: · Over 26,000 additional children (under age 18) in the state would have been born to teen mothers between 1991 and 2002, and · Fully 80 percent of these children would have been under age six in 2002. Focusing specifically on children under age six in 2002: · 7 percent more children in Washington would have been living in poverty Unintended teen pregnancy negatively impacts the lives of young women and their infants...
Only 63 percent of teenagers who give birth before the age of 18, and 74 percent of teenagers who give birth between the ages of 18 and 19 years either graduate from high school or receive their GED, as compared to approximately 85 percent of women who delay childbirth until their early twenties. The children of teenage parents face severe health, economic, and social consequences. Because one-third of pregnant teens do not receive adequate prenatal care, their babies are 23 percent more likely to be low birth weight; they are more likely to have childhood health problems, and to be hospitalized than those born to older mothers.
And impacts all of us... The U.S. still leads the fully industrialized world in teen pregnancy and birth rates - by a wide margin. In fact, the U.S. rates are nearly double Great Britain's, at least four times those of France and Germany, and more than ten times that of Japan. Washington Teenage Pregnancy and Abortion Rates (2003)
In 2003, the Washington counties with the highest teenage pregnancy rates were Adams, Franklin and Yakima County. Each of these three counties had a teenage pregnancy rate of 10%.
Out of 1,298,673 female Washingtonians of childbearing age (15-44), 106,086 women got pregnant in 2003. Out of these pregnancies, 75.9% resulted in live births, 23.7% resulted in abortions.
Out of 214,010 female Washington teenagers between 15 and 19, 11,592 got pregnant in 2003. 59.1% of teenage pregnancies to girls between 15 and 19 resulted in live births, 40.5% resulted in abortions.
Out of 217,265 female Washingtonians that are 15 and younger, 203 girls got pregnant in 2003 (a pregnancy rate of 0.9%). 42.4% of teenage pregnancies to girls younger than 15 resulted in live births, 57.6% resulted in abortions.
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