(6).
The reasons why teen pregnancy exists are varied and overlapping. According to CDC, there are at least 100 risk factors leading to teen pregnancy. These factors fall under such categories as: .
• Community disadvantage; .
• Lack of family support and supervision; .
• Economic disadvantage; .
• Absent Parent or Parents;.
• Family, peer, and partner attitudes and behavior; and .
• Characteristics of teens themselves, including detachment from school, emotional distress and sexual beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. (7) .
PREGNANCY RISKS AND OUTCOMES .
• 94 percent of teens believe that if they were involved in a pregnancy they would stay in school; in reality, 70 percent eventually complete high school.
• 51 percent of teens believe that if they were involved in a pregnancy they would marry the mother/father; in reality, 81 percent of teenage births are to unmarried teens.
• 26 percent of teens believe that they would need welfare to support a child; in reality 56 percent receive public assistance to cover the cost of delivery and 25 percent of teen mothers receive public assistance by their early twenties.
• 32 percent of teens say they would consider an abortion; in reality, 50 percent of pregnancies to unmarried teens end in abortion. (8).
Teen Pregnancy Outcomes.
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More than half (56%) of the 905,000 teenage pregnancies in 1996 ended in births (2/3 of which were unplanned). (9).
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III. Economics, Poverty , Social Issues and Teen Pregnancy.
Teenage pregnancy poses a substantial financial burden to the mother, society and the nation. In 1987, more than $19 billion in public funds was spent for income maintenance, health care and nutrition for support of families begun by teenagers. Babies born to teenagers have a high risk of being born with low birth weight, and low birth weight babies requires initial hospital care averaging $20,000 per infant.