Teen pregnancy wasn't always a problem. Even a hundred years ago, men and women married and started their families young: life expectancy was far shorter than it is today; school wasn't nearly as important or widely available; and young families conformed to the established social norm. However, today in the developed world, teen pregnancy is a problem that causes a wide range of social and economic problems. The United States leads the developed world in teen pregnancies, with over twice as many per year as Great Britain or Canada, four times as many as France, and ten times as many as Japan or the Netherlands (Popenoe). As many as 34% of all teenage girls become pregnant at least once before they are 20 years old, resulting in an astounding rate of 820,000 pregnancies a year. Nearly all of those pregnancies are out of wedlock and unwanted and so about half of those pregnancies result in abortion. Poverty and race are correlated with teen pregnancy, too, as teen mothers are more likely to be poor and remain poor if they start a family. Teen mothers are unlikely to finish high school: fewer than one-third of teen mothers receive their degree and a mere 1.5% receive a college degree before they are 30 ("The National Campaign To Prevent Teen Pregnancy"). Additionally, teenage pregnancies frequently result in short- and long-term health problems for both mother and child. Long-term social effects include the perpetuation of poverty and the weakening of the economic muscle of the nation; clearly something must be done to prevent teen pregnancy in the United States.

             Many people believe mistakenly believe that sex education and birth control distribution will solve the epidemic of teen pregnancy. The underlying message is that if the birth control methods and education fails, then at least the teen can have an abortion to prevent starting a family. Sex education focuses on safe sex: the proper use of birth control devices including prophylactics and hormonal contraceptives.