AIKEN COUNTY

• Every day an Aiken County teen gets pregnant.
• Aiken County has the 8th highest number of teen pregnancies among South Carolina counties.
• Of the 341 teen pregnancies last year, there were 4 among 10-14 year olds; 97 among 15-17 year olds; and 240 among 18-19 years old.
• 30% of Aiken County's teen pregnancies are repeat pregnancies (40% for 18-19 year olds.)
• Teen pregnancies cost Aiken County taxpayers $7,502,000 annually.

SOUTH CAROLINA

• Every 55 minutes a South Carolina teen gets pregnant.
• SC has the 8th highest teen birth rate in the nation among 15-19 year olds.
• Nationally, SC ranks 3rd for cases of gonorrhea, 5th for Chlamydia, 12th for syphilis, and 8th for AIDS.
• Among sexually active teens, the average age of first sexual intercourse is 13.7yearsold (nationally, the average age is 16.8).
• More than half of all SC high school students and 71% of seniors have had sex.
• Among 12 th grade males, 73% have had sex (nationally, the statistic is 61%) and 1/3 have had four or more sex partners.
• 80%of first births and 90%of second births to teen moms are supported by SC Medicaid.
• Teen childbearing cost South Carolina taxpayers $156 million in 2004.

UNITED STATES

• Every hour more than 87 teen girls get pregnant and 50 give birth.
• The US has the highest rate of teen pregnancy and births among comparable countries.
• 3 in 10(750,000) teenage girls get pregnant at least once before age 20.
• Nearly a half million children are born to teen mothers each year.
• 79% of births to teen mothers are out-of-wedlock.
• Nearly 80% of unmarried teen moms will go on welfare within 5 years of the birth of their first child
• Currently, 46.8% of all high school students have had sexual intercourse.
• Approximately 1 in 7 sexually active 14 year old girls report having been pregnant.
• Teen childbearing costs US taxpayers at least $9.1 billion annually in direct costs (health care, foster care, criminal justice, public assistance and lost tax revenues).
• Each year, 1 in 4 sexually active teens - 3 million total - contract an STD.

THERE’S MORE…

• Only one-third of teen moms who began their families before age 18 complete high school.
• Nearly 80% of unmarried teen mothers end up on welfare.
• Less than half of the children born to teen mothers in 2000 can even identify their father.
  Children of teen moms are twice as likely to be victims of abuse.
• Daughters born to teen moms are 22% more likely to become teen moms themselves.
• Sons born to teen moms are 13% more likely to end up in prison; US taxpayers spend roughly $1 Billion per year to build and maintain prisons for them.
• Children born to teen parents are more likely to end up in foster care or have multiple caretakers throughout their childhood.

WHAT IF TEEN PREGNANCY RATES HADN’T DECLINED?

• In South Carolina, more than 19,000 additional children would have been born to teen mothers between 1991 and 2002.
• An additional 7,342 (10% more) of South Carolina’s children under age 6 would have been living in poverty.
• An additional 5,927 (9% more) South Carolina children would have been living in single mother households.
• Teen childbearing would have cost SC taxpayers an additional $92 million in 2004.
  In the United States, almost $1.2 million additional children would have been born to teen moms between 1991 and 2002.
• US children living in poverty would have increased by 460,000 in 2002 – more than 80% would have been under age six.
• Nationally, approximately 560,000 more children under age six would have lived in single-mother households in 2002.
• Teen childbearing would have cost US taxpayers an additional $6.7 billion in 2004 alone.
  

1. www.teenpregnancysc.org
2. www.teenpregnancysc.org and www.advocatesforyouth.org
3. www.teenpregnancy.org
4. www.teenpregnancy.org
5. www.teenpregnancy.org