Being a teenage parent
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The statistics
Teenage pregnancy is a social issue that often hits the headlines but, despite growing concern, conception rates in the UK have been steadily declining over the past few years. The under-18 conception rate in the UK for 2010 was the lowest since comparable records began in 1969 at 35.5 conceptions per 1,000 women aged 15- to 17-years-old. In 2010, there was also a 6.8% decline in the number of conceptions to girls under 16 from 2009, and the under-20s was the only age group where conception rates had not increased.
The recent drop in teenage pregnancies has been attributed to:
- improved access to contraceptives and contraceptive publicity
- improved education on sex and relationships
- an increase in young women aspiring towards continuing their education
- an increase in media awareness of young people
- the perception of a stigma attached to being a teenage mother.
Despite this reduction in teenage pregnancies, however, the UK continues to have the highest rate ...
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