MUCH has been written about adolescent pregnancy and childbearing during the last decade. The facts are clear and distressing: In 1982, 1 077 124 pregnancies occurred in 15- to 19-year-old adolescents; 513 758 (47%) ended in live births, 418 740 (39%) in therapeutic abortions, and 144 626 (13%) in spontaneous abortions. Of all live births to adolescents, nearly 48% were born to unmarried women.1 In 1984, fewer (469 682) children were born to women younger than 19 years, but this decrease resulted primarily from a reduction in the adolescent age group.2
Compared with other developed countries, the United States exhibits significantly higher pregnancy, birth, and abortion rates in its adolescent population. In 1981, for example, the adolescent pregnancy rate for women 15 to 19 years old was 96/1000 in the United States compared with 14/1000 in the Netherlands. The comparison of rates from a country as heterogeneous as