Adolescent Pregnancy and Contraception

7% of US teen women became pregnant in 2008, totaling 750,000 pregnancies nationwide. For women ages 15 to 19, 82% of pregnancies are unintended. Adolescents have a disproportionate risk of medical complications in pregnancy. Furthermore, adolescent parents and their infants both tend to suffer poor psychosocial outcomes. Preventing unintended and adolescent pregnancies are key public health objectives for Healthy People 2020. Screening for sexual activity and pregnancy risk should be a routine part of all adolescent visits. Proven reductions in unintended pregnancy in teens are attained by providing access to contraception at no cost and promoting the most-effective methods.