![CDC Vital Signs CDC Vital Signs](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120921180434im_/http://www.cdc.gov/VitalSigns/images/VitalSigns_logo-300px.jpg)
Preventing Teen Pregnancy in the US
![Diagram of a person overlaid with an icon of infant with the number 1,100, an icon of woman with the numbera 1 of 10, and an icon of a dollar symbol with 9 billion.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120921180434im_/http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/TeenPregnancy/images/vital-map.gif)
Pages in this Issue
More than 400,000 teen girls, aged 15-19 years, give birth each year in the US. The media often glamorize teens having sexual intercourse and teen parenting, but the reality is starkly different. Having a child during the teen years carries high costs—emotional, physical, and financial—to the mother, father, child, and community. Parents, educators, public health and medical professionals, and community organizations all have a role to play in reducing teen pregnancy. During the past 20 years, the rate of teen girls having children has dropped by about 40% to its lowest level since records began being kept 70 years ago. Despite this good news, there is still much work to do, because teen pregnancy has such a huge impact on the future of America's children.
Contact Us:
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Rd
Atlanta, GA 30333 - 800-CDC-INFO
(800-232-4636)
TTY: (888) 232-6348 - cdcinfo@cdc.gov