Title: How teen pregnancy has become a political football.

POPLINE Document Number: 108721

Author(s):

Woodman S

Source citation:

MS., 1995 Jan-Feb;5(4):90-2.

Abstract:

More than half of all high school students are having sexual intercourse and approximately one million teenagers become pregnant each year. Teens are therefore responsible for 12% of all births in the US, a rate higher than in any other developed country. High rates of teen pregnancy are not new to the US. Indeed, birthrates among teens were actually higher during the mid-1950s than they are today. More of those teens, however, married and even the income of a non-high school graduate could support a family. Rates of teen pregnancy in the US declined quite steadily during most of the 1980s, but they have increased in recent years. This increase comes at a time when poverty, sex, sexual and reproductive freedom, abortion, the breakup of the traditional family, and welfare reform are hot button issues in the US. To satisfy their need for scapegoats, politicians have seized upon the largely disenfranchised and impoverished population of pregnant teens as an easy target. These politicians are exploiting the issue of teen pregnancy to sidestep difficult decisions and advance their own agendas. Teen pregnancy, closely associated with poverty and sexual control, plays well into the welfare reform debate. Fifteen states have or are considering proposals to limit the amount of money welfare mothers receive and the length of time they are eligible to receive it. It is expected that teens will be discouraged from having babies if welfare support is harder to get. Numerous empirical studies, however, have found that girls and women are generally not motivated by welfare payments when they decide to have babies. Giving women real life options to pregnancy and motherhood is the fastest way to reduce the number of children women have. Moreover, instead of punishing teens for becoming pregnant, politicians should fight against sexual predators, violence and incest at home, and merchandizing which capitalizes upon sex.

Keywords:

Adolescents
Adolescent Pregnancy
Political Factors
Public Assistance
Youth
Age Factors
Population Characteristics
Demographic Factors
Population
Reproductive Behavior
Fertility
Population Dynamics
Financing, Government
Financial Activities
Economic Factors