% of teen pregnancies are unplanned, accounting for about 1/4 of all accidental pregnancies annual. Childbearing13% of all U.S. births are to teens.The fathers of babies born to teenage mothers are likely to be older than the women: About 1 in 5 infants born to unmarried minors are fathered by men 5 or more years older than the mother.78% of births to teens occur outside of marriage.Teens now account for 31% of all non-marital births, down from 50% in 1970.1/4 of teenage mothers have a second child within 2 years of their first. Teen mothers and their childrenTeens who give birth are much more likely to come from poor or low-income families (83%) than are teens who have abortions (61%) or teens in general (38%).7 in 10 teen mothers complete high school, but they are less likely than women who delay childbearing to go on to college.In part because most teen mothers come from disadvantaged backgrounds, 28% of them are poor while in their 20s and early 30s; only 7% of women who first give birth after adolescence are poor at those ages.1/3 of pregnant teens receive inadequate prenatal care; babies born to young mothers are more likely to be low-birth-weight, to have childhood health problems and to be hospitalized than are those born to older mothers. AbortionNearly 4 in 10 teen pregnancies (excluding those ending in miscarriages) are terminated by abortion. There were about 274,000 abortions among teens in 1996.Since 1980, abortion rates among sexually experienced teens have declined steadily, because fewer teens are becoming pregnant, and in recent years, fewer pregnant teens have chosen to have an abortion.The reasons most often given by teens for choosing to have an abortion are being concerned about how having a baby would change their lives, feeling that they are not mature enough to have a child and having financial problems.29 states currently have mandatory parental involvement laws in effect for a minor see...
