OKLAHOMA FACTS
> 4th in the U.S. in the rate of teen births with 47.8. Rates are births per 1,000 mothers ages 15 to 19.
> The state reduced the rate of teenage births by 18 percent between 2007 and 2011, but U.S. teen births declined by 25 percent with all but two states showing decreases of more than 15 percent.
U.S. BIRTH FACTS
> 4 out of 10 teens will become pregnant before age 20.
(Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy)
> Girls born to teen moms are 83 percent
more likely to become teen moms.
> Boys born to teen moms are 2.7 times
more likely to become incarcerated.
> Children of teen moms are 50 percent more likely to fail a grade in school; twice as likely to be abused or neglected and two to three times more likely to run away from home.
> The national average cost for each teen birth and attended expenses is about $79,320. The U.S. annual cost to taxpayers for teen childbearing is about $11 billion.
> For every $1 spent on publicly funded family planning programs, $4.02 is saved in averted Medicaid birth costs.
> Women who have unintended pregnancies are less likely to finish high school and attend college and are more likely to live in poverty and engage in risky behavior that threatens the health of both the mother and child.
Source: Tulsa Teen Pregnancy Prevention Coalition, pulled from various reports including the Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy, Robin Hood foundation and Oklahoma State University research.
