Are there more teenage girls becoming pregnant now than before 1962?

[bruinssig]

Are there more teenage girls becoming pregnant now than before 1962? Are there any resources that would give me the stats? I am having a dispute with someone who thinks the rate of teenage pregnancies is not much higher than before 1962.

[Tracy]

They are wrong. Look up teen pregnancy stats with the year online, or at library.

[Pippin]

There were more teen mothers in 1960 (I don't have stats for 1962) than there are today.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005074.html

In 1960 there were about 600,000 births to women 19 and under.
In 2009 (the most recent stats available) there were slightly over 400,000 births. (And the population today is much higher as well, bringing the birthrate down significantly.

One difference of course, is that in 1960, most pregnant 18 and 19 year olds were married ... today most are not.

The teen birthrate has been dropping steadily for the past several decades.

EDIT: Other factors in the higher teen birthrate were lack of legal abortion and reliable contraception. (The pill hadn't yet come on the market and condoms were hard to buy.)

EDIT: Don't know where Ray is getting his information, but the birthrate for 12 year olds is negligible -- and most girls that age who do get pregnant were raped/molested ... it's not something they choose due to 'social pressure.'
Fewer than 2% of 12 year olds have had sex and only about 15% of 15 year olds. Half of all 17 year olds are still virgins. Fewer than 1% of girls under 15 get pregnant each year.
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/FB-ATSRH.html

[Ray]

There is one qualification you are not mentioning. Are you asking in general or are you asking as to unwanted pregnancies? A female can be married at 18 or nineteen and have children. In general, the tragic scene today is that 12 year old girls and older are getting pregnant out of social pressures via social media and the dreaded "single" status. Do more research but you need to clarify what you are asking about. The use of birth control pill, IUD, and the invention of the morning after pill have allowed more women to have sex without fear as to pregnancy. Unfortunately, in all age ranges, over 50% of the 1,8 million annual births in the USA were due to unwanted pregnancies. There is lack of proper education, lack of supervision, divorced parents that can be fooled by girls and cultural compression that turns into the pressure to have sex. It is a contest of sorts. One boy fourteen years old got identified by a group of girls in his school as the boy to take their virginity. One by one they approached him and asked. He obliged and wrote in a sort of psychological trauma status. He has potential of never being able to trust a woman since, in his view, they can just ask anyone and have sex. Damage. In general, the data you want can be located with some work. But pregnancies and births of teen mothers is much lower than in the 50's and 60's. The other salient fact is that more women are having babies while not married as with some sort no concern for the children's condition. A family of four needs more than $27,400 of annual income. That is a monthly gross income of $2,284 a month to be above the poverty line. That is close to $15 an hour rate of pay. In closing, children is the number one cause of poverty in the USA. Sad but true. Your friend is correct but always ask for evidence. Opinions and asking strangers can generate tons of bad information. Look this up online. Bye.

[Panhead]

Absolutely.

I had a large paper I had to write on the effects of the sexual revolution and contraception as well as modern prophesy that may interest you. I could post it on my blog and put a link here if you'd like [No worries, everyone, I'm not self promoting. I haven't even posted this, but if you're interested I would post it for you (I'll even put a little dedication/note to you at the top ]

But I found this incredibly interesting article titled, "The Pill: How it is Affecting U.S. Morals, Family Life," which actually appeared in U.S. News & World Report on July 11, 1966. (Who would of thought they would be concerned about morals and family life? Oh how the world has changed...)
Check it out:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/filmmo...ution.html

[fandango]

The rate is more likely lower now.