Estimating the public costs of teenage childbearing

A formula for making national, state and local estimates of the cost to the public of teenage childbearing is derived from a review of 12 studies. The formula is then applied to U.S. data. The calculations yield a single-year cost for 1985 of $16.65 billion paid through three programs--Aid to Families with Dependent Children, food stamps and Medicaid--for women who first gave birth as teenagers. The calculations also show that the public will pay an average of $13,902 over the next 20 years for the family begun by each first birth to a teenager in 1985 and $5.16 billion over the same period for the families of all teenagers experiencing a first birth in 1985. If all teenage births were delayed until the mother was 20 or older, the potential savings to the public would be $5,560 for each birth delayed and $2.06 billion for the entire cohort of teenagers who would otherwise have had a first birth in 1985.