The Effect of Social Policies on Teenage Pregnancy and Childbearing

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Abstract
The services and incentives provided by social policies significantly affect teenage pregnancy and childbearing outcomes. Policies that offer tangible family-planning services and that improve access to and affordability of abortion have stronger, more consistent effects on teenage sexual behavior than do those that focus on changing personal attitudes and values. Higher welfare benefits may provide an incentive for pregnant teenagers to forgo marriage. Policies that improve teenagers' educational and earnings opportunities appear to contribute indirectly toward reducing teenage pregnancy and childbearing. This effect likely arises because better economic prospects lead teenagers to believe that they have something to lose by becoming parents, thus motivating them to defer having children.