Government & You

Did you know that teen pregnancy in North Carolina costs state taxpayers an estimated $312 million annually?

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy calculates the cost of teen pregnancy in North Carolina as $312 million annually.  However, the state spends only $2.5 million each year to prevent adolescent pregnancies across the state.  "Clearly there is a need to use our tax dollars more efficiently," said Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Coalition of North Carolina (APPCNC) Executive Director Kay Phillips. "We must make teen pregnancy prevention a priority in the state of North Carolina, saving our youth and our money."

Teen pregnancy and childbearing have significant economic and social costs.  Preventing teen pregnancy benefits taxpayers and the economy, and improves the educational, health, and social prospects for this generation of young people and the next.  Prevention is also the responsible approach to reducing unintended pregnancies and thus the need for abortion through increasing access to family-planning services as well as comprehensive sex education. 

In 2009, the North Carolina legislature approved a bill that would provide access to age-appropriate, comprehensive sex education to middle-school students and will include information on contraceptives and sexually transmitted diseases. For the first time in 13 years, students in North Carolina will receive the objective and scientifically based information they need to make healthy and educated decisions about their futures.

Press Release, Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Coalition of North Carolina, An Ounce of Teen Pregnancy Prevention is Worth $312 Million in North Carolina (Oct. 30, 2006);  Press Release, The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, Teen Childbearing in North Carolina Costs Taxpayers $312 Million Annually (Oct. 30, 2006);  The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, By the Numbers: The Public Costs of Teen Childbearing in North Carolina (Nov. 2006). Lynn Bonner, Sex Ed To Get A Lot More Explicit, The News And Observer, Jun. 26, 2009.