Focus On
Teen Pregnancy
One of the Healthy People 2020 goals is to prevent unintended pregnancy. The objective is a 10% improvement on the teen pregnancy rate. Teen prenancy has been trending down in Kansas.
Teen Pregnancy Indicator Map: Percent of All Births Occurring to Teens (15-19)
This indicator shows the percentage of births in which mothers were 15-19 years of age.
Data Source: Kansas Department of Health and Environment
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports teen pregnancy and childbearing bring substantial social and economic costs through immediate and long-term impacts on teen parents and their children. Births resulting from unintended pregnancies can have negative consequences including birth defects and low birth weight. Children from unintended pregnancies are more likely to experience poor mental and physical health during childhood, and have lower educational attainment and more behavioral issues in their teen years. Studies indicate these effects remain for the teen mother and her child even after adjusting for those factors that increased the teenager’s risk for pregnancy, such as growing up in poverty, having parents with low levels of education, growing up in a single-parent family, and having poor performance in school.
Public health agencies and other organizations in Kansas are working to reduce teen pregnancy and its impact on society. Abstinance education and case management programs aim to reduce the negative consequences of teenage pregnancy for teens and their children, to increase levels of self sufficiency and goal-directedness relating to their own futures and that of their children, and to delay subsequent childbearing until completion of goals related to basic education/training or they reach the age of 21 years.