Introduction
Since the 1990s, teen pregnancy and births in the United States have reached historic lows. The teen pregnancy rate has declined 51 percent, and the teen birth rate is down 57 percent. Downward trends span all 50 states and all racial and ethnic groups. Yet teen pregnancy and birth rates for teens age 15 to 19 in the United States remain among the highest with comparable countries. Roughly one in four girls will be pregnant at least once before age 20. And about one in five teen moms will have a second child during her teen years. Significant disparities also persist across racial and ethnic lines, geographic regions, rural and urban areas and among age groups.