Outcomes of adolescent pregnancies.(Statistical Data Included)

A woman can resolve a pregnancy in one of three ways: She can have an abortion; she can give birth and become a parent; or she can give birth and relinquish the baby for adoption. The overwhelming majority of teenagers choose either abortion or raising the child themselves. Since the late 1980s, the proportion of pregnant teenagers giving birth has increased slightly (Figure 33, page 44). About half of adolescent pregnancies end in birth, slightly over a third in abortion and the rest in miscarriage (166) (Figure 34, page 45). Although most adolescent pregnancies are unintended, teenagers account for fewer than a third of all unintended births, nonmarital births and abortions each year (Figure 35, page 46).

Abortion

In the years immediately following legalization of abortion in 1973, reported adolescent abortion rates increased considerably, and then were relatively stable until the late 1980s, even though a higher proportion of teenage women were becoming sexually active. Since 1980, however, abortion rates among sexually experienced adolescent women have declined steadily, both because a lower proportion of teenagers have become pregnant and because a lower proportion of pregnant teenagers have chosen to have an abortion (Figure 36, page 47). Adolescents account for roughly a quarter of all abortions performed annually. (167)

Terminating Unintended Pregnancies. The majority of unintended pregnancies among teenagers end in abortion. (168)

* In all, 53% of 15-19-year-old teenagers who experience unintended pregnancies have an abortion, compared with 47% of older women who have unintended pregnancies.

* Married teenagers are considerably less likely than their unmarried peers to terminate unintended pregnancies, perhaps because they have the support of a spouse and their family, or because married couples are more likely to be employed, have higher incomes and are more willing to have children than unmarried women and their partners.

* Still, about a quarter of unintended pregnancies among married adolescents end in abortion each year. (169)