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Problems with teen pregnancies
Many Teen Pregnancies Are Unplanned or Unwanted
Too-Early Childbearing Often Harms the Health of Both Mother and Child. Early childbearing may be life-threatening to both the mother and the child. Mothers younger than 17 face an increased risk of maternal mortality because their bodies are not yet mature enough to bear children.

These young women may not recognize the symptoms of pregnancy or may not wish to acknowledge a conception, delaying prenatal care and endangering the health of the child and mother.

Maternal Mortality Rates Are High
Poor women, especially adolescents, tend to seek inexpensive, later, unsafe abortions. In countries where abortion is illegal or severely restricted—a study of younger women seeking abortion found that they were at significant risk of abortion complications.Teen mothers’ deliveries are more often complicated by obstructed labour or other problems, which may lead to death of the mother and/or child, or to maternal infertility.

Children born to teenage mothers are more likely to be premature, be of low birth weight, and suffer from retarded fetal growth

Early Pregnancy Can Endanger the Life and Health of the Child

High Adolescent Fertility Rates Are Linked to Low Educational Attainment and Poverty.

Young women with low levels of educational and economic attainment often experience restricted ability and motivation to regulate their fertility, resulting in higher rates of early pregnancy.

The cycle is further perpetuated as young women who are in school are forced to discontinue their education when they become pregnant, greatly restricting their economic opportunities. Young women with higher levels of education are more likely to postpone marriage and childbearing.

Education is positively associated with contraceptive use by increasing awareness, acceptability, and utilisation of family planning services.

Children of adolescent parents not only face an elevated risk of illness or death; they are also more likely to be abandoned, left to live on the street, and caught in a cycle of poverty. – www.advocatesforyouth.org