Teenage Pregnancy Essay
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Teenage pregnancy and out-of-wedlock childbearing were central issues in the debate over welfare reform. They are frequently seen as both the cause of increased welfare costs and caseloads over the last 25 years, and the result of the welfare system itself.
Out-of-wedlock births among teenagers have increased dramatically in the last several decades and now account for almost 70% of all teenage births. Yet, trends in teenage sexual activity and childbearing reflect broader trends in sexual and reproductive behavior among women of all ages and income levels. Women age 20 and older, for example, account for more than three-quarters of the unintended pregnancies and abortions that occur each year in the United States. Moreover, despite the sharp increase in teenage out-of-wedlock births, the increase has been even greater among older women. As a result, teenagers account for a much smaller proportion of out-of-wedlock births today than they did in the 1970s.
Contrary to what I previously thought, only 5% of mothers on welfare are teenagers, and just 1%, or about 32,000, are under age 18. However, a large proportion of women who begin childbearing as teenagers eventually end up on welfare, and those who do tend to need assistance for a long period of time.
Proposals have been based on two basic assumptions: that poor, unmarried teenagers deliberately get pregnant and have babies in order to collect welfare and set up their own households; and that a prohibition on benefits will, in and of itself, discourage out-of-wedlock births. Through the research I’ve done I found that the great majority of poor teenagers use contraceptives to prevent pregnancy, and that most births to poor adolescents are unintended. It also suggests that most women, including teenagers, would prefer to give birth once they are married.
This paper examines teenage sexual and reproductive behavior, in addition to key behavior differences among adolescents of varying income levels. It explores the extent to which teenage mothers depend on welfare and whether welfare recipients who gave birth as teenagers differ significantly on certain socioeconomic indicators from those who were not teenage mothers. It also considers whether current proposals to reduce teenage pregnancies and out-of-wedlock births among young women on or at risk of welfare are likely to achieve.
Teenagers and Sex
Sexual intercourse during the teenage years has become the norm in the United States. While intercourse among very young teenagers is still relatively rare more than 8 in 10 adolescents have had intercourse by the time they turn 20. As sex has become more common at younger ages, historic differences in sexual activity among teenagers of different races, income levels and religions have decreased. For example, while 60% of poor women aged 15-19 are sexually experienced, so are 53% of low-income adolescents and 50% of higher income teenagers.
Contraceptive Use and Pregnancy
Most teenagers can and do use contraception to avoid sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and unintended pregnancies-even the first time they have intercourse. Nearly 60% of poor and low-income teenage women and about three-quarters of higher income adolescent women use some method of contraception-usually the condom-the first time they have sex.
Although their contraceptive use is not perfect, teenagers use contraceptives as effectively as young, unmarried adults. Adolescent women, in fact, are less likely to experience a contraceptive failure than unmarried method users in their early 20s. At all ages, however, higher income women use contraceptives more successfully than lower income women. Poor and low-income teenagers, for example, are twice as likely as higher income adolescents to have an unplanned pregnancy while using the pill or the condom.
Teenagers who become pregnant rarely place a child for adoption; instead, they have an abortion or give birth and raise the child themselves. About half of pregnancies to adolescent women end in birth, slightly over a third in abortion and the rest in miscarriage. Since the late 1980s, the proportion of teenage pregnancies ending in birth rather than abortion has risen. I would think that the increase may reflect the greater acceptance of out-of-wedlock births as well as the federal government's policy of extending Medicaid coverage to prenatal care and delivery services but not abortion.
Adolescent Childbearing
While sexual activity among teenagers of all income levels is now common, having a baby is not. Adolescent childbearing is heavily concentrated among poor and low-income teenagers, most of whom are unmarried.
Almost three-quarters of higher income teenagers who become pregnant have abortions; they choose to postpone childbearing so they can complete their education, get a good job, establish their financial independence and get married before they start a family. Poor and low-income teenagers, whose prospects for a good education, a decent job and marriage are dim or nonexistent, often have little incentive to delay childbearing. As a consequence, disadvantaged young women often continue unplanned pregnancies to term and raise the children themselves.
Teenage Mothers and Welfare
AFDC, or Aid to Families with Dependent Children, is the nation's principal welfare program. It provides cash assistance for needy families. Between 1970-1993, the number of families on AFDC increased 163%, from 2 million to about 5 million, while benefit expenditures rose only 44%, from $15.5 billion to $22.3 billion. During that period, the average monthly AFDC benefit per family declined 45%, from $676 to $373
In 1993, 3.8 million mothers aged 15-44 were AFDC recipients. Fifty-five percent of these women became mothers when they were teenagers. However, only 191,000, or 5%, were current teenage mothers, and most of these-159,000-were aged 18-19; young teenagers, those aged 15-17, accounted for just 32,000 of all mothers on AFDC. The remaining 50% were women aged 20-44 who had their first child as a teenager: 26% of these women were under age 18 when they first gave birth, and 24% were age 18-19 when their first child was born.
Long-term Dependency
It is a sad reality that unmarried women who begin childbearing in their teenage years very often end up on welfare. According to data collected between the late 1970s and mid-1980s, three-quarters of unmarried adolescent mothers began receiving welfare within five years of the birth of their first child. Marriage is no guarantee against welfare, however, 25% of teenage mothers who were married when they gave birth also went on welfare within five years.
Women who choose to give birth as teenagers are among the poorest AFDC recipients: 53% of current and former teenage mothers on AFDC in 1992 had incomes below...
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