Kids Having Kids

"Approximately 175,000 American girls have a child before they are 18 years old. Teenage pregnancy often turns out to be a personal tragedy for these young women, and it is also a very serious problem for the nation.

In June 1996, the results of a study called "Kids Having Kids" showed that teen pregnancy costs taxpayers almost seven billion dollars each year.Having a baby so early in life can lead to a number of social problems. Seventy percent of teenage mothers do not finish high school. Teen parents have high poverty rates, and there is a greater chance of their having to depend on money from the government.

The problems get even worse for their children. Babies of teen moms have a bigger chance of being born too soon and may suffer from more childhood health problems than children born to older mothers. The children of teenage mothers often have trouble in school, and they are more likely to fail a grade or to drop out. These children are also twice as likely to suffer from poor care or from abuse. And the "Kids having Kids" study reported that the daughters of teenage moms are up to 83% more likely to grow up to become teenage moms, too. That may be the biggest problem of all, because these sad circumstances get repeated from one generation to the next."