Nearly every day a girl between the ages of 10 and 19 in Charlottesville and Albemarle County gets pregnant. About half these pregnancies end in abortion, and half in births. One quarter were to girls who had already borne at least one child. Teenage mothers are more likely to have complications with childbirth, depend on public welfare, never complete high school, have fewer employment skills, and raise a family in poverty. Between 1980 and 1990, the teen pregnancy rate increased in Charlottesville.
Many teens are more sexually active than parents recognize.
State and national surveys suggest that nearly half of ninth and tenth graders, and over two-thirds of eleventh and twelfth graders, have already had sexual intercourse.