The document “Teenage
pregnancy next steps: guidance for local authorities and primary care trusts on
effective delivery of local strategies” clearly sets out the rationale for teenage pregnancy strategies. It
says:
- Teenage mothers are less likely to finish their
education, and more likely to bring up their child alone and in poverty;
- The infant mortality rate for babies born to
teenage mothers is 60% higher than for babies born to older mothers;
- Teenage mothers are more likely to smoke during
pregnancy and are less likely to breastfeed, both of which have negative
consequences for the child;
- Teenage mothers have 3 times the rate of
post-natal depression of older mothers and a higher risk of poor mental
health for 3 years after the birth;
- Children of teenage mothers are generally at
increased risk of poverty, low educational attainment, poor housing and
poor health, and have lower rates of economic activity in adult life; and
- Rates of teenage pregnancy are highest among
deprived communities, so the negative consequences of teenage pregnancy
are disproportionately concentrated among those who are already
disadvantaged.
This demonstrates that teenage
pregnancy is a key factor in issues of inequality and social exclusion amongst
young people, and therefore there is a strong economic argument to invest in
measures to reduce the teenage conception rates.
Leeds has recognised this,
and has highlighted the reduction of teenage pregnancies as one of it’s 10 key
priorities within the Leeds
Children and Young People’s Plan 2009-2014.
While the target is to
achieve a 55% reduction in teenage conception rates in Leeds by 2010 (against
the 1998 baseline), it is also hugely important to ensure that young parents
receive the support they need to:
- make successful futures for themselves and their
children; and
- avoid any subsequent unplanned pregnancies while
still teenagers.
Improving outcomes for
teenage parents will also reduce the chances that their children become teenage
parents and experience the factors detailed above (which are known to be linked
to teenage pregnancy) themselves. The ways in which we improve outcomes and
provide better support for teenage parents today will help to sustain much
lower rates of teenage pregnancy in the future.
The reasons for tackling teenage pregnancy and supporting teenage mothers and young fathers are well documented and include health and wider inequalities issues. Babies born to teenage mothers have a 60 per cent higher infant mortality rate and a 63 per cent increased risk of being born into poverty compared to babies born to older mothers. Children born to teenage mothers do less well at school and disengage early from learning and sometimes well before they have finished compulsory education. Daughters of teenage mothers are twice as likely as daughters born to older mothers to become teenage mothers themselves. Similar disadvantages affect young fathers.
Measures to reduce teenage conceptions help to reduce the health inequalities and social exclusion impact of teenage parenthood. Efforts to improve outcomes for teenage mothers and young fathers will, in turn, reduce the chances that children born to teenage mothers and young fathers become teenage parents themselves, because they are less likely to experience some of the factors associated with teenage pregnancy. Supporting teenage mothers to access and use contraception effectively after the birth of their first child will also help prevent subsequent unplanned pregnancies.