Teen Pregnancy: Causes, Consequences, and Prevention

Learning Targets: 

1 . Identify at least three social or economic causes of teen pregnancy. 

2. Explain the effects of teen pregnancy on both education and health outcomes. 

3. Evaluate prevention strategies and support systems available for teens facing pregnancy.

1 . Identify at least three social or economic causes of teen pregnancy. 

When you think about being a teenager you think back to the days you were at high school football games, homecoming dress shopping with your mom or friends, and the days you had little to no responsibilities. Did you know, according to Kearney & Levine (2012) “U.S. teens are two and a half times as likely to give birth as compared to teens in Canada, around four times as likely as teens in Germany or Norway, and almost 10 times as likely as teens in Switzerland” (Kearney & Levine, 2012, p. 141) (p. 141). America has the highest birth rates in the world, and it seems like we can’t get a hold on it. Girls who come forward from being pregnant have admitted they didn’t know how or where to get contraception, and they didn’t tell their partner to put on a condom. There are many roles that play a factor when it comes to teen pregnancy like where they are raised, their income status, and the relationship they have with their parents/family members. Not everyone has someone to teach them how to practice safe sex, how a condom works, and sometimes it's taboo in a home to talk about sex so it isn’t a topic anyone touches on. These are challenges that teens face every single day when they decide to become sexually active. The challenges they face can lead to dropping out of school, not graduating on time, and even young boys face challenges too. 

Facts about teen pregnancy in the US: 

• Teen pregnancy rates have dropped 78% from 1991 to 2021.

• Babies born to teen mothers are more likely to be premature, low birth weight,  or have higher infant mortality rates.

• Teen parenthood is a leading cause of high school dropout: more than half of teen mothers never finish high school.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2025, April 23). Births: Provisional data for 2024. National Center for Health Statistics. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2025/20250423.htm

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2024, February 1). Teen pregnancy. National Center for Chronic 

Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Reproductive Health. https://www.cdc.gov/reproductive-health/teen-pregnancy/index.html

Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP). (n.d.). Reduce pregnancies among adolescents — FP-03. Healthy People 2030,

 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://odphp.health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/family-planning/reduce-pregnancies-adolescents-fp-03

2. Explain the effects of teen pregnancy on both education and health outcomes. 

The hard part about teen pregnancy is that it was booming in the early 2000’s and has since died down or maybe just the taboo on teen pregnancy has faded. How sex education is taught in schools is a huge debate in the United States. A lot of people feel that it is not right to talk about because they think it gives teens the green light to participate in sex, but some people believe that not talking about it at all causes more issues for pre-teens and teens. A study was done in the United States (all states that wanted to show data) and it wanted to see how many girls got pregnant and followed through with having their baby (not getting an abortion) and 72 girls got pregnant and 17 girls ended up having children (I would add a citation or reference that includes some study information. [Introduce the authors and date before a direct quote]“Based on a national analysis of all available state data, our results clearly show that abstinence-only education does not reduce and likely increases teen pregnancy rates.” (Stanger-Hall KF, Hall DW, 2011, p. 2) (p 10).  This study showed that just telling teens not to have sex wasn’t enough. We know kids have sex, that is something we can’t fight or stop them from doing without it causing them to rebel. Instead, we need to have healthy, mature, and realistic conversations about unprotected sex, birth control, and even causes and effects of participating in unprotected sex. I believe in order for teens to limit the number of pregnancies there is, as teachers, we need to have open and honest conversations with the proper aged students. I also believe girls should have access to free birth control without question but with parents’ knowledge. For now, sex education is at a state level and has been given the right to be taught from state to state. I don’t want to get political in my paper, but I believe it is your job, as a teacher, to educate yourself on where your state stands with the 

3. Evaluate prevention strategies and support systems available for teens facing pregnancy.

I believe prevention is the number one thing that schools and states need to look at. Having readily available birth control, condoms, and any other form of contraception would be the most beneficial for teens and for the prevention of teen pregnancy. I don’t believe we will ever get rid of teen pregnancy but having access for teens who are already parents to succeed in life we need to have daycare options for them available, counselors for them, and flexible options for schooling. Shaming girls and boys for something that has already happened isn’t going to make the pregnancy go away. (Introduce authors’ and date of publications) “The Young Parents Project, established in Florida state, provides intensive support for high-need young mothers through multidisciplinary services. Focusing on the mother-baby relationship ensures safety, personalized care, and respect for cultural values” (Lesinskienė S, Andruškevič J, Butvilaitė A, 2025, p.14). (page numbers of work).  Having a program like this in Florida would benefit young women and men all over the United States. As a teacher, we aren’t there to shame students for things and even though we want all our students to be successful and go far with life, things happen and shaming them and putting them down won’t change the situation so we must educate ourselves and make sure we know resources that are available for teens because we might be the only line of help for the

m.

I intervI interviewed a girl I went to High School with and she gave me some good answers to the following 

  I interviewed a girl I went to High School with and she gave me some good answers to the following questions.

TRUE OR FALSE: 

Teen pregnancy rates in the United States have consistently decreased since 1991.

A) True

B) False

Is it true that teen pregnancy typically requires the mother to remain in school to provide for the child?

A) True

B) False

ANSWERS: A and B 

AI Use: I used AI to help create a picture of a girl who was confused and afraid to tell people she was pregnant. I think it betrays how a girl might feel when she finds out she is pregnant, especially at such a young vulnerable age to find out you are having a baby. I also used AI to help me come up with a name for my paper. I told AI my 3 main target points and it helped me come up with something catchy and something that felt creative and catchy. I found using AI for images to be challenging because you have to be very specific to get what you are asking for. 

REFERENCES: 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024, February 1). Teen pregnancy. National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Reproductive Health. https://www.cdc.gov/reproductive-health/teen-pregnancy/index.html

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2025, April 23). Births: Provisional data for 2024. National Center for Health Statistics. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2025/20250423.htm

Kearney, M. S., & Levine, P. B. (2012). Why is the teen birth rate in the United States so high and why does it matter? Journal of Economic Perspectives, 26(2), 141–166. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.26.2.141

Lesinskienė, S., Andruškevič, J., & Butvilaitė, A. (2025). Adolescent pregnancies and perinatal mental health—Needs and complex support options: A literature review. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 14(7), 2334. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm14072334

Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (n.d.). Reduce pregnancies among adolescents — FP-03. Healthy People 2030, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://odphp.health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/family-planning/reduce-pregnancies-adolescents-fp-03

Stanger-Hall, K. F., & Hall, D. W. (2011). Abstinence-only education and teen pregnancy rates: Why we need comprehensive sex education in the U.S. PLOS ONE, 6(10), e24658. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0024658