Eva M. Clayton: “Mr. Speaker, 30 percent of all out-of-wedlock births are to teenagers below the age of 20. That astonishing reality…”

“Mr. Speaker, 30 percent of all out-of-wedlock births are to teenagers below the age of 20. That astonishing reality should be alarming to all Members of Congress and to all citizens of our country. More importantly, the current debate on welfare reform is accelerating the need to address the issue of out-of-wedlock teen births. We want to end welfare as we know it, all of us say, but we do not want to replace it with welfare as we do not want to know it. We do not want to enact legislation that leaves a policy of national abandonment. As we consider solutions to this issue, we must keep in mind no other industrialized nations with the standard of living comparable to the United States has a problem of this dimension. On the problem of teenage pregnancy, we have the dubious distinction of leading the world. In January, the national campaign to prevent teen pregnancy began. This campaign is a privately funded nonpartisan effort. The goal of the campaign is to reduce teenage pregnancy rate by one-third by the year 2005.”