Although the rate of teenage pregnancy in the United States has been declining, it remains the highest in the developed world. Approximately 97 per 1,000 women aged 15–19—one million American teenagers—become pregnant each year. The majority of these pregnancies—78 percent— are unintended.
Moreover, because the average age of menarche has reached an all-time low of about 12 or 13 years, and because four out of five young people have sex as teenagers, a greater proportion of teenage girls are at risk of becoming pregnant than ever before.
The consequences of...
Source: Teenage Pregnancy, ©2002-10 Gale Cengage. All Rights Reserved. Full copyright.
(The entire page is 2356 words.)
Want to read the whole thing?
Subscribe now to read the rest of this article. Plus, get access to:
- 30,000+ literature study guides
- Critical essays on more than 30,000 works of literature from Salem on Literature (exclusive to eNotes)
- An unparalleled literary criticism section. 40,000 full-length or excerpted essays.
- Content from leading academic publishers, all easily citable with our "Cite this page" button.
- 100% satisfaction guarantee READ MORE
