US: Maternity for Teens (3/99)
With nearly 500,000 teenagers giving birth nationwide each year, most are unmarried and not ready for the emotional, psychological, and financial challenges of parenting, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Under federal welfare reform, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, the bulk of control over federal assistance for such families has been given to the states, with incentives such as bonuses for reducing teen, out-of-wedlock births, estimated at 76 percent of all teen births in 1994, compared to 15 percent in 1960.