Every 26 seconds a US teen becomes pregnant... every hour 56 babies are born to teen mothers.

�Over half a million U.S. teens give birth each year; 83% are poor or of low-income.

�Each year, 11% of all U.S. teens aged 15-19 and 20% of those who are sexually active become pregnant.

�Our country leads the developed world with twice the teen pregnancies of England, France and Canada, and nine times those of The Netherlands and Japan.

�76% of births to teens occur outside of marriage.

�One-fourth of teenage mothers have a second child within two years of their first.

Teen childbearing is widely regarded as a root cause of some of our country's most difficult problems - poverty and welfare dependency, child abuse and other crime, physical and developmental disabilities, drug abuse and homelessness. Untold personal and family suffering, and $29 billion per year in public spending on direct and social costs of teen pregnancy might potentially be avoided.

�80% of teen mothers will live in poverty and rely on welfare, many for their children's critically important developmental years; few get any support from their babies' fathers.

�teen mothers are 50% less likely to graduate from high school.

�teen fathers are also less likely to finish high school, and also earn significantly less later in life.

�teen mothers eventually have 24% more children but are 50% less likely to marry.

�compared with women who delayed first births only until 20 or 21, teen mothers have 50% more low birth weight babies, dramatically raising infant deaths, blindness and deafness, chronic respiratory problems and cerebral palsy, retardation and mental illness, and later dyslexia, hyperactivity, other learning disabilities.

�children of teen mothers have poorer health yet receive only half the level of medical care of other children.

�children of teen mothers are more than twice as likely to be victims of abuse or neglect and to go into foster care.

�daughters of teen mothers are 83% more likely to have a baby before age 18.

�sons of teen mothers are almost 3 times as likely to land in prison.

�children of teen mothers are more likely to grow up without critically needed emotional support and cognitive stimulation, resulting in lasting disadvantages.

�children of teen mothers have lower cognitive development, repeat twice as many grades, and drop out of high school far more often.

(sources: Alan Guttmacher Institute and Robin Hood Foundation)