I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1845 
To authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants to promote the 
education of pregnant and parenting students. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 7, 2013 
Mr. POLIS (for himself and Ms. CHU) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants 
to promote the education of pregnant and parenting students. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pregnant and Par-
enting Students Access to Education Act of 2013’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 
(1) There are approximately 750,000 teen preg-
nancies and 400,000 teen births annually in the 
United States. 
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(2) Although teen pregnancy and birth rates in 
the United States have declined by 42 percent and 
49 percent respectively since the early 1990s, it is 
still the case that nearly 3 in 10 girls in the United 
States become pregnant at least once by age 20. 
(3) The teen pregnancy and birth rates in the 
United States are higher than in any other Western 
industrialized country. 
(4) The figure is even higher among Latinas 
(44 percent) and African-American girls (48 per-
cent). 
(5) There are geographic variations in teen 
childbearing; in 2010, the teen birth rate in rural 
counties was nearly one-third higher compared to 
the rest of the country regardless of age, race, or 
ethnicity. 
(6) Many pregnant and parenting students face 
significant barriers in enrolling, attending, and suc-
ceeding in school, including— 
(A) discrimination in violation of title IX 
of the Education Amendments of 1972, includ-
ing stigmatization at school by administrators, 
teachers, and peer students; 
(B) a lack of consistent policies at the 
State, district, and school levels that allow for 
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excused absences for prenatal and postnatal 
health care appointments in order for teen par-
ents to successfully complete their education; 
(C) 
difficulty 
maintaining 
academic 
progress while out of school leading up to or 
following the birth of a child; 
(D) juggling school work with parenting 
responsibilities; 
(E) lack of access to affordable quality 
child care and transportation to and from the 
child care arrangement and school, which can, 
as a practical matter, make it virtually impos-
sible for a parenting student to attend school 
regularly; and 
(F) stereotypes that future opportunities 
for postsecondary education or careers are lim-
ited for pregnant and parenting students, which 
can diminish students’ motivation to stay en-
gaged in school. 
(7) Fully 30 percent of teen girls who have 
dropped out of school cite pregnancy or parenthood 
as a reason. 
(8) Only about half (51 percent) of teen moth-
ers earned a high school diploma by age 22 com-
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pared to 89 percent of women who didn’t have a 
teen birth. 
(9) Less than 2 percent of young teen mothers 
attain a college degree by age 30. 
(10) Studies of females and males who dropped 
out of high school indicate that becoming a parent 
played a role in their discontinuation of school, and 
in many cases it played a major role. For example, 
nearly half of all female dropouts and one-third of 
male dropouts said that becoming a parent played a 
role in their decision to leave school. 
(11) Nearly 1 in 5 births to mothers aged 15 
through 19 is a repeat birth, totaling nearly 67,000 
repeat births. 
(12) Because teen pregnancy and parenting are 
significant risk factors for dropout, teen pregnancy 
prevention can go a long way toward improving high 
school graduation rates. 
(13) Females who do not earn a high school di-
ploma are especially likely to face severe economic 
consequences—to be unemployed, to earn very low 
wages, and to have to rely on public support pro-
grams—that significantly affect not only individual 
students and their families, but also our national 
economy as a whole. 
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