What the Pill Means for Educational Success

by Lara S. Kaufmann, Senior Counsel, 
National Women’s Law Center 

Every year in the United States, there are approximately 750,000 teen pregnancies and 400,000 teen births. Overall, nearly 3 in 10 girls in the United States become pregnant at least once by age 20, and the rates are even higher for girls of color. Our teen pregnancy and birth rates are higher than those of any other Western industrialized country. 

This is not just a public health issue and an economic issue; it is also an education issue. Pregnant and parenting students often face major barriers to enrolling, attending, and succeeding in school, including, for example: outright discrimination and stigmatization by their schools (in violation of their civil rights); the difficulty of keeping up while out of school leading up to or following the birth of a child, especially without any school support; the challenge of juggling school work with parenting responsibilities; and the lack of access to affordable quality child care and  transportation  to and from the child care arrangement and school. 

Studies of females and males who dropped out of high school indicate that becoming a parent played a role in their decisions to leave school, and in many cases it played a major role. And women who do not earn a high school diploma are especially likely to face severe economic consequences—to be unemployed, to earn very low wages, and to have to rely on public support programs—that significantly affect not only individuals and their families, but also our national economy as a whole.

Teenagers would greatly benefit from comprehensive, medically accurate sex education and meaningful access to methods of contraception—like the Pill—that allow them to decide when they are ready to start families. I think many—if not most—of them would postpone taking that step until they have reached their educational goals and can support themselves. And in the long run, that is better for everyone.