On the recordApril 17, 1996
Each year more than one million teenage girls become pregnant. Four out of 10 will become pregnant before the age of 20 with half of them giving birth and very few marrying the father. These numbers pose a serious problem not only to the young parents and the child, but to the larger community as well. There are a number of programs working to assist young mothers and their children, including financial assistance and child care. These are important programs and we must continue to improve them. What we must also do is begin to more adequately address the issue of how to keep teenagers from becoming pregnant. As the old saying goes, 'An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.' While we will never erase teen pregnancy completely, it is essential to create successful prevention programs.
Source
govinfo.gov
