How widespread is teenage sex, pregnancy, and STDs?
Even though teen sexual intercourse is on the decline overall, many teenagers are involved in sexual activity. The United States has the highest teen1 pregnancy and birth rate in the western industrialized world. Thirty-one percent of adolescent girls2 become pregnant before the age of 20, resulting in nearly 750,000 teen pregnancies each year3. Eighty percent of these pregnancies are unintended4 and 79% are to unmarried teens. Since only about one-third of teen mothers complete high school and 80% of them end up on welfare4, the cost to society is staggering. Some estimates say the cost to society of teens 17 years of age and younger having children is $29 billion annually. This figure does not include the cost of detecting and treating sexually transmitted diseases and their consequences. Approximately four million teens get a sexually transmitted disease each year (CDC).
