Chicks In Crisis Facts and Articles

HIV Among African Americans African Americans have the most severe burden of HIV of all racial/ethnic groups in the United States.

Compared with other races and ethnicities, African Americans account for a higher proportion of HIV infections at all stages of disease-from new infections to deaths.

• African Americans are the racial/ethnic group most affected by HIV.
• Young African American gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men are especially at risk of HIV infection.
• New HIV infections among African American women decreased for the first time in 2010. African Americans accounted for an estimated 44% of all new

HIV infections among adults and adolescents (aged 13 years or older) in 2010, despite representing only 12% to14% of the US population. Stigma, fear, discrimination, homophobia, and negative perceptions about HIV testing can also place too many African Americans at higher risk. Many at risk for infection fear stigma more than infection and may choose instead to hide their high-risk behavior rather than seek counseling and testing.

Events for National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day CARES provided HIV/STD outreach and HIV testing to the Sacramento MLK 365 event this past month. Over 1,000 individuals stopped by our booth to learn more about HIV and STDs. 62 people where tested for HIV and 14,500 condoms were distributed. CARES held a special event for National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (February 7th) at the Florin Road Light Rail station. In this area, there are high rates of STD exposure and a large minority population as well. Having the testing at the Florin Light Rail Station was to not only target this minority population in South Sacramento, but to also reach out to the youth at Burbank High School. Burbank High School is about 1 ½ blocks away from the light rail station and we reached out to over 200 people and we tested 45 people with 27 of those being youth aged 13-24.

CARES also partnered with Greater Than AIDS and 100 Black Women Sacramento Chapter in producing an electronic billboard (above) that was shown during the week of NBHAAD on Highway 99 in South Sacramento. Free HIV/STD Testing and CondomFinder.org Some people don't feel comfortable getting tested at the doctor's office. If you know someone like this, you can refer them here to CARES for an HIV or STD test. CARES offers free and confidential walk-in and appointment based HIV and STD testing Monday through Friday, 9:00am - 5:00pm, and Thursday, 9:00am - 7:00pm. Please note that there is no STD testing done after 5:00pm. Mondays and Fridays are our busiest days for HIV and STD testing.

You can make an appointment to avoid a long wait time. Call 916.914.6305 for more information and to schedule an appointment. We are located at 1500 21st St (near O St) in Sacramento. Looking for free condoms? Visit CondomFinder.org. You can pick up free condoms and lubricant packages at any Condom Finder distribution location. To find the one nearest you, browse the map or enter your zip code. You can also download the Condom Finder app on both the iPhone and Android phone.

Even though the teen pregnancy rate has declined over the past few decades, the fact of the matter is that the United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate of the Western industrialized world. It is true that the teen pregnancy and birth rate was much higher prior to 1980 (and especially in the 1950s and 1960s), but at the time young women were getting married and having children before the age of 20. Most of the teen pregnancies occurring before 1980 were to married women; now most of today's teen mothers are unwed. Here are some more interesting teen pregnancy statistics:

How many teens are becoming pregnant?

• Despite declines in rates of teen pregnancy in the U.S., about 820,000 teens become pregnant each year. That means that 34 percent of teenagers have at least one pregnancy before they turn 20. 
• 79 percent of teenagers who become pregnant are unmarried. 
• Utah's teen pregnancy rate is high, as well as Southern teen pregnancy but these are areas where women still get married prior to the age of 20 with some regularity (although this is changing). 
• 80 percent of teenage pregnancies are unintended. 
• Nearly four in ten teenage girls whose first intercourse experience happened at 13 or 14 report that the sex was unwanted or involuntary. 
• The main rise in the teen pregnancy rate is among girls younger than 15* 
• Close to 25 percent of teen mothers have a second child within two years of the first birth.*

Social, educational and financial costs of teen pregnancy

• The United State spends $7 billion each year due to the costs of teen pregnancy. 
• Only one-third of teenage mothers complete high school and receive their diplomas 
• By age 30, only 1.5 percent of women who had pregnancies as a teenager have a college degree. 
• 80 percent of unmarried teen mothers end up on welfare 
• Within the first year of becoming teen mothers, one-half of unmarried teen mothers go on welfare.* 
• The daughters of teen mothers are 22 percent more likely than their peers to become teen mothers. 
• Sons of teenaged mothers have a 13 percent greater chance of ending up in prison as compared to their peers.

How much greater is the U.S. teen pregnancy rate than other countries?*

• Greater teen pregnancy rates translate into higher abortion in the United States for the industrialized world. 
• The U.S. has twice the teen pregnancy rate as Canada 
• Both Germany and France have a teen pregnancy rate that is four times lower than the U.S. 
• Japan's teen pregnancy rate is eight times lower the United States

What do teens think of sexual activity?*

• 82 percent feel that teens should not be sexually active.
• 72 percent agreed that teens that are sexually active should have access to birth control. 
• 73 percent feel that being a virgin should not be embarrassing 
• 58 percent feel that high-school age teens should not be sexually active 
• Fewer than one half of teens in high school have had sex 
• 67 percent of teens who have had sex wish that they had waited (60 percent of boys and 77 percent of girls).

An In-Brief Fact Sheet about Sex and Teens

SEXUAL ACTIVITY

• Although only 13% of teens have ever had vaginal sex by age 15, sexual activity is common by the late teen years. By their 19th birthday, seven in 10 teens of both sexes have had intercourse. [1]

• On average, young people have sex for the first time at about age 17,[2,3] but they do not marry until their mid-20s. [4] This means that young adults are at increased risk of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) for nearly a decade.

• Teens have been waiting longer to have sex than they did in the recent past. In 2006–2008, some 11% of never-married females aged 15–19 and 14% of never-married males that age had had sex before age 15, compared with 19% and 21%, respectively, in 1995. [1]

• However, after substantial declines in the proportion of teens who had ever had sex between 1995 and 2002, the level did not change significantly from 2002 to 2006–2008. [1]

• In 2006–2008, the most common reason that sexually inexperienced teens gave for not having had sex was that it was “against religion or morals” (42% among females and 35% among males). The second and third most common reasons for females were “don’t want to get pregnant” and “haven’t found the right person yet.” [1]

• Among sexually experienced teens, 72% of females and 56% of males report that their first sexual experience was with a steady partner, while 14% of females and 25% of males report a first sexual experience with someone whom they had just met or who was just a friend. [1]

• Seven percent of young women aged 18–24 who had had sex before age 20 report that their first sexual experience was involuntary. Those whose first partner was three or more years their senior were more likely to report this than were other women in that age-group. [1]

• Teens in the United States and European teens have similar levels of sexual activity. However, the latter are more likely to use contraceptives and to use effective contraceptive methods; they therefore have substantially lower pregnancy rates. [5]

• Three percent of males and 8% of females aged 18–19 in 2002 reported their sexual orientation as homosexual or bisexual; the proportions reporting same-sex behaviors were similar. [6]

CONTRACEPTIVE USE

• A sexually active teen who does not use a contraceptive has a 90% chance of becoming pregnant within a year. [7]

• The majority of sexually experienced teens (79% of females and 87% of males) used contraceptives the first time they had sex. [1]

• Contraceptive use at first premarital sex has been increasing. Fifty-six percent of women whose first premarital sex occurred before 1985 used a method, compared with 76% in 2000–2004 and 84% in 2005–2008. [8]

• The condom is the most common contraceptive method used at first intercourse; 68% of females and 82% of males use it. [1]

• In 2006–2008, some 95% of sexually experienced female teens had used a condom at least once, 58% had ever used withdrawal and 55% had used the pill. Smaller proportions had used other methods. [1]

• In the same period, about one in five sexually active female teens (21%) and one-third of sexually active male teens (35%) reported having combined the condom and a hormonal method the last time they had sex. [1] This use of dual methods offers protection against both pregnancy and STIs.

• In 2006–2008, some 84% of female teens and 93% of male teens reported using contraceptives at last sex. These proportions represent a marked improvement since 1995, when only 71% of female teens and 82% of male teens had reported using a method at last sex. However, the proportions were unchanged between 2002 and 2006–2008. [1]

• Nearly one in five female teens at risk of unintended pregnancy (19%) were not using any contraceptive method at last intercourse. [8]

ACCESS TO CONTRACEPTIVE SERVICES

• No state explicitly requires parental consent or notification for contraceptive services. However, two states (Texas and Utah) require parental consent for contraceptive services paid for with state funds. [9]

• Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia explicitly allow minors to access contraceptive services without a parent’s involvement. Another 25 states have affirmed the right to access contraceptive services for certain classes of minors, while four states have no law. However, in the absence of a specific law, courts have determined that minors’ privacy rights include the right to access contraceptive services. [9]

• In 2002, some 90% of publicly funded family planning clinics counseled clients younger than 18 about abstinence, the importance of communicating with parents about sex or both topics. [10]

• Nearly two million women younger than 20 were served by publicly supported family planning centers in 2005; these teens represented one-quarter of the centers’ contraceptive clients. [11]

• In 2006, only 5% of American high schools made condoms available to students. [11]

STIs

• Young people aged 13–24 made up about 17% of all those who received a diagnosis of HIV/AIDS in 2008. [12]

• Although 15–24-year-olds represent only one-quarter of the sexually active population, they account for nearly half (9.1 million) of the 18.9 million new cases of STIs each year. [13]

• Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections account for about half of STIs diagnosed among 15–24-year-olds each year. HPV is extremely common, often asymptomatic and generally harmless. However, certain types, if left undetected and untreated, can lead to cervical cancer. [13]

• Two HPV vaccines are currently available, and both prevent the types of infections most likely to lead to cervical cancer. In June 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine Gardasil as safe and effective for use among girls and women aged 9–26. [14] In October 2009, the agency approved the vaccine for use in boys and men aged 9–26 as well, and approved Cervarix, another vaccine, for use in girls and women aged 10–25. [15]

• Forty-four percent of females aged 13–19 in 2009 had received one or more doses of the vaccine against HPV; 27% had completed the recommended three doses. [16]

• All 50 states and the District of Columbia explicitly allow minors to consent to STI services without parental involvement, although 11 states require that a minor be of a certain age (generally 12 or 14) to do so. Thirty-one states explicitly include HIV testing and treatment in the package of STI services to which minors may consent. [17]

PREGNANCY

• Each year, almost 750,000 U.S. women aged 15–19 become pregnant. [18] Two-thirds of all teen pregnancies occur among 18–19-year-olds. [18]

• Overall, 72 pregnancies occurred per 1,000 women aged 15–19 in 2006, a slight increase from the previous year (70 per 1,000). The 2005 rate was a record low and represented a 41% decline from the peak (117 per 1,000), which occurred in 1990. [18]

• The majority of the decline in teen pregnancy rates in the United States (86%) is due to teens’ increasingly consistent contraceptive use; the rest is due to higher proportions of teens choosing to delay sexual activity. [19]

• Despite the decline, the U.S. teen pregnancy rate continues to be one of the highest in the developed world—more than twice as high as rates in Canada (28 per 1,000 women aged 15–19 in 2006) and Sweden (31 per 1,000). [20]

• For the first time since the early 1990s, the overall U.S. teen pregnancy rate increased in 2006, rising 3%. It is too soon to tell whether this reversal is simply a short-term fluctuation or the beginning of a long-term trend. [18]

• In 2005, New Mexico had the highest teenage pregnancy rate (93 per 1,000); rates in Nevada, Arizona, Texas and Mississippi followed. The lowest rates were in New Hampshire (33), Vermont, Maine, Minnesota and North Dakota. [18]

• Eighty-two percent of teen pregnancies are unplanned; they account for about one-fifth of all unintended pregnancies annually. [21]

• Fifty-nine percent of pregnancies among 15–19-year-olds in 2006 ended in birth, and 27% in abortion (see chart). [18] 

• Black and Hispanic women have the highest teen pregnancy rates (126 and 127 per 1,000 women aged 15–19, respectively); non-Hispanic whites have the lowest rate (44 per 1,000). [18]

• The pregnancy rate among black teens decreased 45% between 1990 and 2005, more than the overall U.S. teen pregnancy rate declined during the same period (41%). [18]

• Most female teens report that they would be very upset (58%) or a little upset (29%) if they got pregnant, while the rest report that they would be a little or very pleased. [1]

CHILDBEARING

• Ten percent of all U.S. births are to girls aged 19 or younger. [22]

• Most births to teen mothers are first births. Nineteen percent are second or higher order births. [22]

• The share of births to teen mothers that are nonmarital rose from 79% in 2000 to 87% in 2008. Yet, over the last several decades, the share of all nonmarital births that are to teenagers has been declining, from 52% in 1975 to 22% in 2008.[22, 23]

• In 2008, some 42 births occurred per 1,000 women aged 15–19; this rate marks a 33% decline from the peak rate of 62 reached in 1991. However, after decades of decline, the teen birthrate increased in 2006 and 2007, only to fall again in 2008. [22]

• Six percent of teen mothers aged 15–19 received late or no prenatal care. Babies born to teens are more likely to be low-birth-weight than are those born to women in their 20s and 30s. [24]

• Teen childbearing is associated with reduced educational attainment. Teen mothers are substantially less likely than women who delay childbearing to complete high school or obtain a GED by age 22 (66% vs. 94%). [25] Fewer than 2% of teens who have a baby before age 18 attain a college degree by age 30. [26]

FATHERHOOD

• Most teen males report that they would be very upset (47%) or a little upset (34%) if they got a female pregnant, while the rest report that they would be pleased or a little pleased. [1]

• Teen fatherhood rates vary considerably by race. In 2006, the rate among black males aged 15–19 who became fathers (34 per 1,000) was more than twice that among whites (15 per 1,000). [27]

• The rate of teen fatherhood declined 25% between 1990 and 2006, from 24 to 18 per 1,000 males aged 15–19. This decline was far more substantial among blacks than among whites (38% vs. 18%). [27]

ABORTION

• Women aged 15–19 had 200,420 abortions in 2006. [18]

• The reasons teens most frequently give for having an abortion are concern about how having a baby would change their lives, inability to afford a baby now and feeling insufficiently mature to raise a child. [28]

• As of June 2010, Laws in 36 states required that a minor seeking an abortion involve her parents in the decision. [29]

Many Homeless in Sacramento, Out in the Cold This Winter

 On any given night in Sacramento 2,400 people are homeless in our County. According to the 2011 Sacramento Homeless Count, 955 of our neighbors are sleeping on the streets. As winter rapidly approaches, Sacramento Steps Forward (SSF) is seeking creative solutions to house those families and individuals who are forced to sleep outside due to overburdened resources. This harsh reality poses a dual risk to both the safety and health of those sleeping outside. Notably, Sacramento has been successful inreducing chronic homelessness by 50% in the last 3 years. However, family homelessness is on the rise; this year’s Homeless Count data shows an11% increase.

Loaves and Fishes, which serves meals to over 800 homeless people each day recently surveyed 109 women (and 10 children) to find that 59% (66 women and 4 children) are sleeping outside or in a vehicle at night.

The recent release of the 2010 Census Bureau data paints a sobering picture of struggling Americans. According to the figures, nearly 1-in-6 adults and 1-in-5 children are currently living in poverty, the highest rate seen in 52 years. The national unemployment rate remains at 9%; in Sacramento County it has soared to almost 13%. As poverty rates increase, homelessness becomes the tragic reality for more children, families and single adults.

As the Executive Director of Sacramento Steps Forward, I urge readers to focus on the upcoming challenge of providing winter shelter for the most vulnerable in our community. 

Historically public funding has funded the Cal-Expo Winter Overflow Shelter for homeless people during the severe winter months. In 2008-2009, this funding totaled just under $700,000 and last year these funds decreased to $250,000 for winter family shelters. Last winter when there was no public funding for winter shelter for single people, SSF and the Volunteers of America partnered with the Faith Community (22 churches and 2 Mosques) to open the Winter Sanctuary Program for 100 single homeless people. Winter Sanctuary is again planned for this winter.

Currently, there is no Public-allocated funding for additional shelter for the 2011-2012 Winter, which is sure to be wet and cold.  

We are concerned that families will be out in the cold and lives may be in jeopardy, as those who are forced to sleep outside are at increased risk of illness, injury and even death. 

Launched in 2009, Sacramento Steps Forward’s (SSF) public-private partnership is bringing together the ideas, insights, and skills of a broad range of passionate organizations, businesses and individuals from across Sacramento to transform the current system serving our homeless population. SSF focuses on addressing challenges in the existing system of care, and with the active support of political leaders such as Mayor Kevin Johnson and County Supervisor Phil Serna, we strive to ensure continued public participation in developing solutions.

Sacramento’s housing providers are ready and willing to provide their shelter and services to those in need however, funding must be made available in order for this to happen. SSF is dedicated to identifying each provider’s need and assisting in coordinating a system of care to house those who would otherwise have to sleep outside in the cold. This system will allow integration into mainstream services that will hopefully lead to a permanent solution to homelessness for many families and individuals. And amidst this bad news, a bit of good: the Sacramento Region Community Foundation has awarded $30,000 in grants to the community for winter shelter.  

STDs rise for young women

Clinicians diagnosed Sacramento County teen girls and young women with more sexually transmitted diseases, or STDs, last year than ever. At the same time, the county's teen birthrate dropped to a historic low.

STD specialists worry that the seeming contradiction between rising STD rates and declining teen pregnancies may have a troubling explanation: that girls are using hormonal contraceptives like the pill, but young couples aren't using condoms.

"We need to get boys to use condoms more consistently," said Anna-Barbara Moscicki, a professor of pediatrics at the University of California at San Francisco, who has published extensively on sexually transmitted infections.

More than four of every 100 women in Sacramento County between ages 15 and 24 were diagnosed with chlamydia or gonorrhea in 2010, according to new data from the California Department of Public Health.

That's a 12 percent jump from the year before – a spike that one local women's health care specialist called "a silent epidemic."

Though easily treatable with antibiotics, chlamydia and gonorrhea sometimes exhibit few symptoms and, if left undetected and untreated, can cause serious problems, including infertility.

The rise in 2010 gives the county the highest gonorrhea infection rate among young women in the state, and the second-highest rate for chlamydia infection, behind San Francisco. Gonorrhea infections among young women here were almost 190 percent higher than the statewide average last year, while chlamydia infections were about 60 percent higher.

Chlamydia is diagnosed more often in girls than in boys. Still, physicians diagnosed just over one of every 100 young men in Sacramento County between ages 15 and 24 with chlamydia last year, the fourth-highest rate in the state. Sacramento County's gonorrhea infection rate last year among males in that age bracket was the third-highest rate in California.

Why Sacramento's rate is higher than other places "is definitely an enigma that we're trying to work through," said Cassius Lockett, the county's chief epidemiologist.

The corresponding 23 percent decline in the birthrate among young women doesn't surprise local clinic workers. They say many young people use birth control but regularly skip condoms – a risk taken out of teenage carelessness and widespread ignorance about STDs and how they spread.

Jacqueline John, manager of outreach, education and prevention at the nonprofit CARES Clinic in midtown Sacramento, said, "It floors me on a regular basis how little people actually know." 

Misinformation rampant

It's easier for today's girls to prevent pregnancy than it has been in the past, and they're doing so, said Moscicki. Young women have access to a variety of contraceptives their parents did not, including the vaginal ring and hormonal shots, she said. But those contraceptives don't help prevent the spread of STDs.

In fact, that very security about pregnancy may make young couples cavalier about STDs, said Kiara Hill, a 22-year-old student at California State University, Sacramento, and a peer educator with CARES.

"As a young woman, a lot of times we think the worst thing that could happen to us is an unplanned pregnancy," Hill said. "We think, 'I'm on birth control, I know he won't (cheat on me), so it's OK.' "

Plus, many young people are dangerously misinformed about STDs, Hill and others said.

The most common misconception among teen boys and young men at the Effort Oak Park Community Health Center – laughable if it weren't so harmful – is that condoms are too small to fit them, said licensed midwife Tanya Khemet, who does STD testing for adolescents there. Others think they can tell if a sexual partner has an infection by looking at the person's genitals or simply based on his or her reputation.

Khemet and CARES educators said they know of many youths who have oral or anal sex instead of vaginal to avoid pregnancy, not considering that they can contract STDs that way, too – in some cases even more easily.

"What I see are teenagers who are poorly informed about the risk and also who don't know where to go for services," Khemet said.

It's unclear if testing could partly account for the STD spike. Screening methods have improved in recent years, becoming less invasive and therefore more appealing to youths, Moscicki said. More testing can translate into higher reported infection rates.

On the other hand, when youths have poor access to medical care, they aren't tested for long stretches of time and can continue to spread their infection. Sacramento County has closed four of its five public health clinics – which provided STD screening and treatment – due to budget cuts in the past three years.

Poor access to health care partly explains why STD rates are higher among young minorities, Moscicki said. In Sacramento County, infection rates have jumped across all races, but the increases have been highest among blacks and Asian Americans.

As for why Sacramento matches or beats big-city San Francisco in infections, John and her colleagues at CARES have a hunch.

It's precisely because this is a smaller city, and at the same time a regional crossroads, they say. People travel to Sacramento from an area stretching as far as Chico and Reno, possibly bringing infections with them.

Yet within Sacramento, social circles are small. There are only so many young people here, so they end up choosing their sexual partners from within the same small community, passing STDs around in a sort of echo chamber of infection.

Prevention budget tight

Staci Syas, coordinator for the county's HIV and communicable disease prevention program, wants to turn the tide on STDs in Sacramento quickly. She worries these rampant infections could produce a wave of young women who, when they eventually want to get pregnant, discover they can't.

Last spring she used a $20,000 grant from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to run an awareness campaign, placing posters and information around college and high school campuses. But that was one-time money, and without it Syas said her total budget for STD prevention is under $50,000 a year.

Syas will continue her usual efforts, running training sessions for local teachers and the staffs of community organizations that serve youth, and doing educational presentations at high schools and colleges. She's hoping to start doing more testing on high school campuses. But she said that's all her finances will allow.

"We need a more systemic way of comprehensively addressing it in our community," Syas said. "And we have not had the resources to do that."

The numbers so far this year bear that out.

State records show Sacramento County is on track to see 10,800 cases of chlamydia and gonorrhea diagnosed among men and women of all ages in 2011 – more than last year's 10,300 and an all-time high.

Adoption Facts 

Of the more than one million pregnant teens each year, 500,000 will choose to parent their babies, 450,000 will abort and fewer than 100,000 will place their babies for adoption.  U.S. Census Bureau

There are approximately one million infertile U.S. couples waiting to adopt. This number does NOT reflect the large number of single parents and fertile couples also waiting to adopt. National Committee for Adoption

Approximately 50,000 U.S. children are adopted each year. One half (roughly 25,000) are infants. Another 10,000 foreign-born children are adopted by American couples.  National Committee for Adoption

Young women who make adoption plans for their children are more likely to delay marriage, be employed and have a higher income than single parents.  National Committee for Adoption

Dr. Phil shares his facts on Teens and Sex       
Written by Denise Miller    
Monday, 26 September 2011 07:37 

Dr. Phil's Facts
Know the Facts About Teens and Sex

You may find them shocking, but these are the facts about teenage sexual activity. Use this information to become a force in your child's life and encourage him/her to make good choices.

• Ten percent of all 13-year-olds have had sexual intercourse.
• 50 percent of all teenagers have had sex by the time they enter the 10th grade.
• One in every five teenage girls will become pregnant during high school.
• Half of all teenagers don't believe oral sex is sex.
• By the time they finish high school, two-thirds of all young adults will have become sexually active.

 
Facts around the country       
Written by Denise Miller    
Monday, 19 September 2011 13:55 
Today's Monday's facts com from Kansas Coalition against Sexual and Domestic Violence.   Their recent research findings are incredibly troubling and hard to believe are coming from such a civilized country.

• Around the world, at least one in three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime.
• As many as 324,000 women each year experience intimate partner violence during their pregnancy.
• On average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in this country every day.
• Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44 in the United States.
• Pregnant and recently pregnant women are more likely to be victims of homicide than to die of any other cause.
• Approximately one in five female high school students reports being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner.
• Three in four women (76%) who reported they had been raped and/or physically assaulted since age 18 said that a current or former husband, cohabiting partner, or date committed the assault.

 
11 facts about teen pregnancy       
Written by Denise Miller    
Monday, 12 September 2011 21:12 
Today's Monday Facts comes from DoSomething.org

1. The U.S. has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the industrialized world – twice as high as in England or Canada, and ten times higher as in Switzerland.
2. The U.S. teen pregnancy rate dropped six percent between 2008 and 2009.
3. About 750,000 teens get pregnant in the United States each year. Nevada has the highest teen birth rate; 113 out of every 1,000 teens will get pregnant.
4. About 1 in 3 women become pregnant at least once before they're 20.
5. A sexually active teen who does not use contraceptives has a 90% chance of becoming pregnant within a year.
6. It affects education - only a third of teen mothers earn their high school diploma. And only 1.5% have a college degree by age 30.
7. It also affects their kids - girls born to teen mothers are more likely to be teen mothers themselves. Boys born to teen moms are more likely to end up in prison.
8. 75% of girls and over half of boys report that girls who have sex do so because their boyfriends want them to.
9.8 in 10 girls and 6 in 10 boys say they wish they had waited until they were older to have sex.
10. Most teens (6 in 10) and adults (3 in 4) believe that teen boys often receive the message that they are “expected to have sex.”
11. Diapers are expensive, but it's nothing compared to the $9 billion that teen pregnancy costs the United States each year. This includes increased spending in child welfare costs and public sector health care.

Teen Childbearing Cost Taxpayers $10.9 Billion in 2008       
Written by Denise Miller    
Monday, 05 September 2011 13:20 

WASHINGTON, June 9, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Teen childbearing in the United States cost taxpayers (federal, state, and local) at least $10.9 billion in 2008, according to an updated analysis released by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. State costs in 2008 ranged from $16 million in North Dakota to $1.2 billion in Texas.

These public sector costs would have been even higher had it not been for the one-third decline in the U.S. teen birth rate between 1991 and 2008.  The estimated national savings to taxpayers in 2008 alone due to the substantial decline in the teen birth rate between 1991 and 2008 is $8.4 billion -- ranging from $3.4 million in Wyoming to $1.4 billion in California.

"Reducing teen pregnancy not only improves the well-being of children, youth, and families, it saves taxpayer dollars," saidSarah Brown, CEO of The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.  "At a time when policymakers and others are intensely focused on cost-saving measures, funding proven efforts to reduce teen pregnancy is important, timely, and should be a high priority."

Most of the public sector costs of teen childbearing are associated with negative consequences for the children of teen mothers.  These costs include public health care (Medicaid and CHIP), child welfare, incarceration, and lost tax revenue due to decreased earnings and spending.

The new analysis updates research originally conducted by Saul Hoffman, Ph.D. of the University of Delaware and released by The National Campaign. The new analysis provides a conservative estimate of the costs of teen childbearing and is based on the increased risk of adverse consequences faced by teen mothers, fathers, and their children as compared to mothers having children at ages 20-21, controlling for many other factors.

Please visit www.TheNationalCampaign.org/costs for more information about the public costs of teen childbearing, including information for every state and the District of Columbia.   This analysis was funded in part by grant IU58DP002916-01 from the Division of Reproductive Health (DRH) within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of DRH.

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy is a private, non-profit organization that seeks to improve the lives and future prospects of children and families. Our specific strategy is to prevent teen pregnancy and unplanned pregnancy among single, young adults.

SOURCE The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy

Read more at PR Newswire