Teen Pregnancy Should Never Be Glorified Just Because Sex is a Natural Thing

Are you thinking, "Gee, sex is natural and so is pregnancy; chill!" ?? Think teen pregnancy is no big deal? Think unwed pregnant teens should be congratulated? Even if the unwed pregnant teen has "support" from parents? Why not just be cool and love the baby? Well, that all looks good on paper. But unwed teen pregnancy is a travesty that costs YOU, the taxpayer, big-time. Teen pregnancy is a tremendous drain on society. Teen pregnancy causes relentless heartache for parents of teens. Teen pregnancy causes social turmoil: unwed pregnant teen girls feeling doomed, quitting high school and foregoing college; unwed teen fathers refusing to pay child support or see their babies; unwed teen mothers crying their eyes out; unwed teen fathers refusing to take responsibility. And you think unwed teen pregnancy is no big deal?

Oh, let's not forget how teen pregnancy disrupts plans of teens' parents who had their heart set on retirement and travel, and are now saddled with raising grandkids. Unwed teen pregnancy is a very bad thing; enough of this excuse that sex is natural and kids making babies is no crime.

Want some numbers on unwed teen pregnancy? I asked Carol Platt Liebau, author of "Prude: How the Sex-Obsessed Culture Damages Girls (And America, Too)," to present some facts about unwed teen pregnancy.

JH: Why is the furor over unwed teen pregnancy never overrated?

CPL: It saddles them with economic emotional responsibilities for which they're not ready; it's a problem for the children they bear, who are too often deprived of the emotional and financial support they deserve; and it's a problem for a society that frequently must bear the costs of poor teen sexual decision-making.

Many people insist that there was just as much unwed teen pregnancy during "puritan" times as there is today, as far as percentage-wise. Just how much unwed teen pregnancy existed, say, 200 years ago in America?

It's worth noting that 200 years ago, life spans were significantly shorter and more compressed than they are today. What's more, that analysis ignores the crucial fact that teen parents were married (200 years ago), and their offspring enjoyed the social, economic and emotional benefits of having two parents.

Even when that wasn't the case because of death, given that illegitimacy was stigmatized, not celebrated, even children who lost a parent had a variety of social supports that, too often, are lacking when young, poor, poorly-educated girls have children out of wedlock. In 2003, 79% of teen births were to unwed mothers. [i] Only 13% of teen births were out of wedlock in the 1950's. [i].

What are the statistics showing that unwed teen pregnancy is a very bad thing?

An influential study conducted in 1996 concluded that adolescent childbearing - births to teens 17 or younger - has direct cost to the taxpayers of at least $6.9 billion each year. [i]

Because adolescent mothers consume more in healthcare yearly while relying more heavily on public health subsidies, adolescent childbearing costs taxpayers about $1.5 billion more than if the girls had delayed parenthood. About 5% of children born to adolescent mothers are placed in foster care each year, resulting in an added taxpayer burden of about $900 million annually. And because the teen sons of adolescent mothers are 2.7 times more likely to go to prison than sons of girls who delayed childbearing until their early 20's, adolescent motherhood costs the taxpayer $1 billion each year in added costs for the construction and maintenance of prisons. [i]

Noting that adolescent mothers receive 50% more welfare assistance than do women who have their first child at 20 or 21, the study pegged the higher public assistance benefits (welfare and food stamps) for the younger mothers as an added cost of $2.2 billion. [i] The U.S. incurs a significant loss of tax revenue because of the effect of adolescent childbearing on fathers' work patterns, estimating that lost revenue at $1.3 billion. [i]

Altogether, researchers calculated the indirect social costs of adolescent motherhood to total a minimum of $9 billion yearly with strictest statistical control for factors like race, ethnicity and socioeconomic class. [i]

Finally, even after controlling for a range of other factors, teen motherhood is an important predictor of problems for the next generation, thereby perpetuating a cycle of low expectations, low performance, and misery. When the offspring of young mothers reach adolescence and young adulthood, they are at added risk for a number of troubling behaviors, including fighting, truancy and early sexual activity. [ii]

(i) Maynard, R.A. (Ed.) Kids having Kids: A Robin Hood Foundation Special Report on the Costs of Adolescent Childbearing, New York:: Robin Hood Foundation, 1996.

(ii) Levine, J.A., Pollack, H., and Comfort, M.E., Academic and Behavioral Outcomes Among the Children of Young Mothers, Journal of Marriage and Family 63 (May 2001).