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About one-third of teen girls become pregnant at least once by age 20 and fully half of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned.  Not too good

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Sep 29 2008

starsUnplanned Pregnancy - Not Just a Teen Issue

Guttmacher logo.jpgAccording to a report released last Tuesday by the Guttmacher Institute, the number of abortions in the U.S. has continued to decline steadily since 1990. This decline has been the most dramatic among teen girls (younger than age 20). In fact, between 1989 and 2004, the abortion rate among teen girls decreased 53% (compared to 26% overall).

The proportion of abortions obtained by teen girls also dropped dramatically during the last three decades while the proportion of abortions to women age 20-24 has remained at roughly one-third since 1974. Furthermore, the majority of all abortions (57%) occur to women in their twenties. At the same time, 60% of all abortions occur to women who have already had at least one child.

Clearly unplanned pregnancy is not just a teen problem.

2 Comments


HELLO,
IT IS EASY TO JUDGE UNLESS YOU ARE ONE OF THE MANY WHO WAS NOT EDUCATED ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES OF UNPROTECTED SEX. FURTHERMORE, IF YOU WERE RAISED IN A HOME THAT WAS NOT CONDUCIVE TO PROMOTING A HEALTHY SELF-ESTEEM. WE HAVE TO LOOK A LITTLE DEEPER INSTEAD OF POINTING THE FINGER. I AM PROOF OF THIS! MY CHILDREN ARE GROWN NOW BUT I STILL LOST MANY IMPORTANT YEARS AND SUFFER FROM SEVERE DEPRESSION. LET'S PUT A LITTLE FOCUS ON PROVIDING OUR CHILDREN WITH LOVING HOMES.


Norma- I am surprised that you think those statistics are meant as a judgment of you. On the contrary, I think they are only there to build awareness. I personally admire the fact that you raised your children, rather than aborting them. You clearly made a sacrifice for what you thought was best. Because of what you've been through, though, don't you want to do all that you can to help prevent others from getting pregnant before they're ready? Don't you want girls in their twenties to be aware and to use contraception rather than have abortions? I think that is what the statistics are trying to promote.


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