Sex education, contraception and abortion increasingly off limits for young women in the United States

Nearly a million adolescent women in the United States become pregnant every year.

Photo courtesy of IndexOpen.

As Ipas marks the end of national Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month, young women’s rights to accurate sex education, contraception and abortion are becoming increasingly curtailed. As one example of the trend, this month the U.S. Supreme Court accepted an appeal by the state of New Hampshire to reinstate parental-notification requirements for minors seeking abortions—the first abortion case the U.S. Supreme Court has accepted in five years.

Nearly a million adolescent women in the United States become pregnant every year. Despite significant efforts in the last decade to reduce these numbers, the United States still has the highest rate of adolescent pregnancy among developed countries. One in three American girls becomes pregnant by the age of 20; 80 percent of those pregnancies are unintended.

Learning the facts
The federal government currently spends nearly $138 million per year for “abstinence-only until marriage” educational programs that fail to provide young people with medically accurate, comprehensive information about sex. These programs, which have not proven to be effective, are also not endorsed by public opinion—according to the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, the vast majority of American adults support a sex education curriculum that covers a wide range of topics, including contraception, prevention of sexually transmitted infections and abortion.

Preventing unwanted pregnancies
Although the numbers have decreased 13.7 percent since 1991, nearly half of all high school students still report having had
sexual intercourse. And according to 1995 data, 78 percent of those teenagers use some form of birth control at first intercourse. Disturbingly, however, an increasing number of pharmacists are refusing to fill prescriptions for birth control, citing religious, moral, ideological and personal objections. According to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, four states currently have laws that permit a pharmacist to refuse to fill prescriptions—including those for contraceptives—and nine additional states, to date, have proposed similar legislation.

Denying women their right to timely access to health care is an act of discrimination that can, in this case, lead to an increased number of unintended pregnancies, especially among young women. A sexually active teenager who does not use contraceptives has a 90 percent chance of becoming pregnant within one year.

Making free and informed choices
Four out of every 10 pregnant adolescent women choose to end their pregnancy in abortion, most often citing concerns that having a baby will change their lives, that they themselves are too immature, or that they cannot afford to raise a child. However, 44 states restrict young women’s access to abortion by mandating parental notice or consent. While most young women talk to at least one parent when making decisions about an unplanned pregnancy, some feel they cannot tell either parent. Restrictions on young women’s access to abortion do not and can not mandate improved family communication; however, they can lead to family violence and unsafe delays in young women’s access to abortion services.

The impact of restrictions that limit young people’s access to sex education, contraception and abortion are compounded for young women of color. For complex reasons—including poverty and cultural norms—young people in communities of color experience disproportionately high rates of unintended pregnancy and teen birth. Nationally, the teen birth rate is higher among Latinas than any other racial or ethnic group.

Teen parenting has serious consequences for teens, their children and society, including:

• Poverty. Preventing teen pregnancy is one of the most direct and effective ways to reduce poverty and improve overall child well-being. Teen parents and their children are less likely to graduate from high school and are more likely to seek public assistance.
• Poor health outcomes. Children of teen parents are more likely to be born prematurely and at low birth weights, increasing the probability that they will experience future health problems.
• Public costs. Teen childbearing costs taxpayers at least seven billion dollars each year through the direct costs associated with health care, foster care, criminal justice and public assistance, as well as through lost tax revenues.

For more information, contact:
Kirsten Sherk
Senior Associate, Media Relations
e-mail: sherkk@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.0258