Despite nearly 40 years of consistent efforts by government, schools, social services and the medical community, the United States still faces insupportable levels of teen childbearing. Our teen birth rate is nine times higher than the Netherlands’, four times higher than Sweden’s and 65% higher than Britain’s. What is to be done about it? A new report issued by the Institute for American Values, a New York-based family and social policy research organization, suggests that the worst social effects of teen childbearing could largely disappear--if only we rethink our approach to the problem.
Maggie Gallagher, an affiliate scholar of the institute, has produced a comprehensive review and critique of the social science research on teen pregnancy, titled “The Age of Unwed Motherhood.”
In an unusual and provocative take on the subject, Gallagher suggests that the real problem with teen childbearing today is that teenage mothers are not marrying the fathers of their children.
