Fifty years ago, the birth control pill revolutionized family planning, giving women a legal, reliable way to control the number of children they had. Today, with the number of unplanned pregnancies on the rise, particularly among younger, unmarried women, policymakers face a new challenge.
According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, more than half of all births in the U.S. are unplanned, as are approximately 70 percent of births to unmarried women in their 20s. A National Campaign survey of 1,800 young, unmarried Americans provided valuable insight. Fully 86 percent of the respondents, ages 18-29, said they were sexually active. Although 94 percent of young men and 86 percent of young women surveyed said they believe a pregnancy should be planned, only about 50 percent were using contraception consistently.
Even more astonishing, 50 years after the introduction of the birth control pill, fully 63 percent of those surveyed said they know little or nothing about the pill — and 30 percent know little, or nothing, about condoms. This finding sheds a good deal of light on the large number of unplanned pregnancies in the United States, and the National Campaign concludes that more complete sex education is critical, along with better adult-youth communication surrounding these issues.
The face of American motherhood is changing in other ways as well. A new Pew Center report found that, in 2008, mothers over age 35 accounted for a greater share of births than teen mothers (14 percent vs. 10 percent) — a complete shift from 1990 and a reflection of the fact that many of the women who choose to postpone their fertility are waiting to start a family until after college and beginning a career.
These findings are not a surprise to demographers, who have been tracking these trends over the past two decades. But, judging from the number of impassioned comments on the Chronicle website on the subject of increases in nonmarital births, this is a hot-button topic that cross-cuts a variety of social issues.
It is important to note that not all nonmarital births are unplanned, and many children born to unmarried parents live with both parents in a loving environment. Nonetheless, there are important implications for children’s well-being as American families change, as 67 percent of all children with a single parent live in low-income families. Scholars are busy trying to understand what these trends mean for public policy. The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study has tracked a sample of unmarried parents and children since 1998.
In the meantime, the National Campaign’s survey sheds light on one important piece of the puzzle — namely, many American youth are not practicing safe sex and do not have good information with which to do so, despite the widespread availability of birth control. National and state policymakers should make it a priority to ensure that no young American becomes a parent before he or she is ready.
Rachel Tolbert Kimbro is an assistant professor of sociology at Rice University and a Rice scholar at the Baker Institute.