Data shows teen pregnancies in NC down more than 50% in a decade
In 2020, about 7800 people aged 19 and younger got pregnant, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Vital Records. That's a significant decrease from the number a decade prior, when more than 16,000 teens got pregnant.
Posted — UpdatedThe number of North Carolinians getting pregnant has slowed in recent years, down 4.2%, but teens in particular are seeing a significant decrease. Pregnancies among those 19 and under have dropped more than 51%.
"We know that a lot of those pregnancies are unplanned," said Dr. Jenna Beckham, a Triangle-area Obgyn. "Pregnancy is a complicated situation at any age."
Beckham sees patients at all ages of fertility, from those as young as pre-teens to women in their 50s. Physicians cannot point to one single cause that the number of young people who are getting pregnant is dropping.
"A lot of people [who are] younger interact more behind the screen of a digital device and so there's maybe less in-person interaction," said Beckham. "And perhaps there's some increased use, access and availability to birth control."
A small percentage - less than one percent- of those who got pregnant are 14 or younger. The state groups pregnancy data in age ranges. It shows that, in 2020, there were 106 pregnancies among girls 10 to 14, but none of those were in people aged 10 or 11. Among those 12 to 14 years old, 61 gave birth and one person’s baby passed away.
2019 is the most recent year North Carolina had a 10-year-old give birth, data shows.
"When you think about someone who is 10 years old - that’s a third, fourth grader," said Dr. Beverly Gray, the residency director for Duke Obgyn. "I have a child who is about to start the fourth grade and I cannot imagine a child that age dealing with a pregnancy. They’re worried about learning how to do math and make friends and facing a pregnancy is just unimaginable."
The WRAL data trackers began investigating the occurrences of preteen pregnancies after reports of a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio who traveled to Indiana for an abortion. North Carolina physicians say many of the preteen pregnancies they see are a result of incest or sexual assault.
Gray says people that young who get pregnant often face high-risk pregnancies.
"They’ve not really fully gone through puberty," said Gray. "Their pelvic bones aren’t fully developed. They haven't reached their full mature health. That is a body that is just not ready for process."
The data from the state shows 44 abortions were performed on people 12-to-14 who got pregnant in 2020 and while most were unmarried, seven were child brides.
"You can’t raise a child when you’re a child," said Gray. "You’re navigating this very complex, social emotional change."
The state also tracks teens who have had had repeat pregnancies. The most recent data shows about one out of every four people ages 15 to 19 who were pregnant in 2020 had been pregnant before. That's a percentage that has increased in recent years and is at its highest rate since 2013.
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