Preventing Teen Pregnancy
Want To Do Something About TEEN
PREGNANCY? STOP Adult Men From Having Sex With Young
Girls!!!
Teen pregnancy is a significant
problem in today's society. Not only do teenage pregnancies
interfere with the success in life that these girls might
ultimately achieve, teen mothers are a burden to all of us,
requiring far more public assistance than adult
counterparts. Further, children born to teens tend to be
both socially and economically disadvantaged.
Programs to reduce teen pregnancy typically focus on girls
who are most at risk. Very little is done to address a major
part of the problem: a large percentage of teen pregnancies
are the result of significantly older men having sex with
young girls. Our society recognizes that children and young
teens do not always have the maturity to responsibly consent
to sex, and for this reason these acts are illegal, labeled
as statutory rape. In the case of teen pregnancy, however,
these laws are rarely enforced.
Isn't it strange that significantly older men who impregnate
young girls are not held legally accountable for their
actions? Doesn't enforcing our existing laws seem like the
most sensible way to do something about teen pregnancy?
In 1996 the American Bar Association's Center on Children
and the Law and the Progressive Foundation announced a
Carnegie Corporation of New York grant to conduct a study
of the relationship between teen pregnancy and unlawful
sexual activity by adult males. An excerpt of the news
release on this project follows.
"American Bar Association and Progressive Foundation to
Study Linkages between Teen Pregnancy and Child Sexual Abuse
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 1 -- The American Bar Association's
Center on Children and the Law and the Progressive
Foundation have received a Carnegie Corporation of New York
grant to conduct a 16-month study of the relationship
between teen pregnancy and unlawful sexual activity by adult
males (acts traditionally labeled as statutory rape ).
The project will analyze state laws and prosecutorial
policies to determine how the legal system deals with
sexually exploitative actions of older men that involve
young teen girls. Researchers will also survey professionals
working with teen mothers to determine how the social
welfare and health systems respond to suspicions of sexually
exploitative relationships, as well as confirmed reports of
sexual abuse and rape of very young women.
In the national debate over adolescent pregnancy, one
critical factor has received little attention: the large
numbers of young females whose pregnancies result --
directly or indirectly -- from their criminal sexual
victimization. For example, a 1992 report of a Washington
State study of 535 teen mothers revealed that first
pregnancies of 62 percent of the participants were preceded
by experiences of molestation, rape, or attempted rape. The
mean age of their offenders was 27.4 years ("Sexual Abuse as
a Factor in Adolescent Pregnancy and Child Maltreatment,"
24(1) Family Planning Perspectives 4, Jan./Feb. 1992).
Research has identified two distinct groups of males whose
unlawful activities are not adequately addressed by law or
policy. The first group includes men who engage in sexually
exploitative relationships with younger adolescent or
pre-adolescent girls; the second includes older males who
impregnate significantly younger teenagers, sometimes for
economic gain, such as claiming portions of welfare checks
from the young women whose babies they have fathered.The
males responsible for these criminal acts are rarely
reported to law enforcement authorities; they are even more
rarely prosecuted -- under either criminal child abuse or
statutory rape laws. Almost all escape responsibility for
unlawful acts that victimize vulnerable young women.
"There has been no effort -- at either the national or state
level -- to carefully examine the adequacy and effectiveness
of policies and statutes designed to deal with predatory
sexual activity directed at young females," said Howard
Davidson, director of the ABA's Center for Children and the
Law, which has worked on reforming child sexual abuse laws
and policies for over 15 years. "One goal of the project is
to raise public awareness about this problem and its role in
teen pregnancy," continued Kathleen Sylvester of the
Progressive Foundation. "We also plan to make specific
recommendations for changes in laws and policies to better
deal with the problem."
For more information contact: Sharon Elstein, Project
Director, ABA Center for Children and Law, 202/662-1752;
Howard Davidson, ABA Center for Children and the Law,
202/662-1740; or Kathleen Sylvester of the Progressive
Foundation, 202/547-0001.
Teen Pregnancy and Child Sexual Abuse
A number of studies have documented the connections between
child sexual exploitation/abuse and teen pregnancy.
· Data from the National Survey of Children indicate that
about 18 percent of women 17 and younger who had intercourse
had been forced to do so at least once (Nonvoluntary Sexual
Activity Among Adolescents, 21 Family Planning Perspectives
110, 1989).
· A 1992 report of a Washington state study of 535 teen
mothers revealed that the first pregnancies of 62 percent of
the participants were preceded by experiences of
molestation, rape, or attempted rape. The mean age of their
offenders was 27.4 years ("Sexual Abuse as a Factor in
Adolescent Pregnancy and Child Maltreatment," 24(1) Family
Planning Perspectives 4, Jan./Feb. 1992).
· A 1986 study of 445 teen mothers in Chicago reported that
60 percent claimed they had been forced to have an unwanted
sexual experience, with a mean age for the first incidence
of abuse being 11« ("The Prevalence of Coercive Sexual
Experiences Among Teenage Mothers," Journal of Interpersonal
Violence 4:204 (1989).
· The Alan Guttmacher Institute reports that over 40 percent
of mothers aged 15-17 had sexual partners three to five
years older; almost one in five had partners six or more
years older. With teen mothers in the 15-17 age range, 49.2
percent of the fathers were between ages 20 and 29 (Family
Planning Perspectives, July/August 1995).
· The National Center for Health Statistics reported that
based on 1991 data, almost 70 percent of babies born to
teenage mothers were fathered by men 20 years of age or
older (Advance Report of Final Natality Statistics, 1991.
Monthly Vital Statistics Report, vol. 42, no. 3, Supplement
9. National Center for Health Statistics, Sept. 1993).
· A 1990 study of births to California teens reported that
the younger the adolescent mother, the greater the age gap
with her male partner. For example, among mothers aged 11-
12, the average age of the fathers was nearly 10 years older
(California Resident Live Births, 1990, by Age of Father, by
Age of Mother, California Vital Statistics Section,
Department of Heath Services, 1992).
· The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported in 1994 that in
the 12 states with sufficient information to distinguish
juvenile from adult rape victims, the majority (51 percent)
of female rape victims were under age 18, more than twice
their representation in the nation's population. In the
three states that kept data on relationships between victims
and offenders in rape cases with victims ages 12-17, a full
20 percent of perpetrators were identified as family
members, while 65 percent were acquaintances or "friends" of
the child victim (Child Rape Victims, 1992, U.S. Bureau of
Justice Statistics, June 1994).
This research establishes that much of young teens' early
sexual involvement is unwelcome and often forced. Even where
it occurs by mutual consent, many of the victims involved
are legally underage, or have not reached the age of
consent. "
We were unable to locate a final report on the findings of
this project. However, the project findings are not the
issue. The reality of the problem as presented in this ABA
news release is the issue.
Teen pregnancy is an issue that many of us care about. Many
of us want to do something about the problem. For those who
work with this problem the traditional approaches have
included prevention programs for girls at risk, and programs
for pregnant teens and teen mothers. Perhaps the information
presented here provides another avenue for preventing teen
pregnancy: hold the adult men who have sex with young girls
legally accountable for their actions.
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