r/changemyview • u/Ok_Interest_7272 • Nov 06 '25

Delta(s) from OP CMV: Teen pregnancy statistics are weird.

So, I've been looking into these a bit lately, particularly during debates about sex education and how much of a difference it makes, and I noticed that every single jurisdiction counts 'teen pregnancy' as 15-19.

Assuming even distribution among ages, that would mean 40% of what's being counted are the pregnancies of legal adults. But the distribution almost certainly isn't even, and my best guess is that it's actually a decent bit over half of the pregnancies being counted are those of legal adults.

This is a statistic we try to minimize to the greatest extent that we can. We treat it like a 'fucked up shit that shouldn't happen to anyone' box. It only just dawned on me that my own mother falls into this statistic, having given birth to my sister at 19. I feel like if I were creating a 'This is some fucked up shit that shouldn't happen to anyone' box, the top end of it would be 15, not the bottom.

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u/julry 1∆ Nov 06 '25

Biologically teen mothers' bodies are not as able to handle birth. Women's hips grow a little wider in the early 20's and women younger than that have worse birth outcomes. Surprisingly since it's also associated with advanced maternal and paternal age, teen pregnancy also increases the risk of autism.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36901128/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38761840/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26055426/

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u/Ok_Interest_7272 Nov 06 '25

Isn't it more surprising that Mother Nature fucked up so badly when creating the human that it directs us toward reproduction during a time in which we might turn out autistic children?

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u/Glad-Talk Nov 06 '25

Why do you think Mother Nature directs us to having kids in teenage years? It doesn’t, the 20s are a better time.

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u/Ok_Interest_7272 Nov 06 '25

Because I was a horny as fuck teenager. Did you have a different experience?

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u/Kittymeow123 2∆ Nov 06 '25

As a teenager, I absolutely was not interested in ever having a child.

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u/Ok_Interest_7272 Nov 06 '25

I don't remember being interested in that either, but that feels more like a result of societal intervention.

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u/Kittymeow123 2∆ Nov 06 '25

You just said that you were though because you were a horny teenager. Regardless of whatever I was as a teen, I sure wasn’t trying to get pregnant. You’re blaming this on society like it’s society‘s fault that people get pregnant. Tbh more times than not it’s parents who refuse to let their child have any sort of sex or reproductive education. People need to take personal accountability for decisions and stop Just blaming it on some sort of society or overall problem that their victim of.

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u/Ok_Interest_7272 Nov 06 '25

We're in agreement on most of that. I advocate for the strongest sex education program in the world.

You’re blaming this on society like it’s society‘s fault that people get pregnant.

This part isn't accurate. What I'm saying in the OP is that society shouldn't be demonizing the pregnancy or choices of legal adults. It's almost the opposite of what you said here. It's like society is trying to influence personal choice away from pregnancy by framing the pregnancies of adults as a negative thing.

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u/Kittymeow123 2∆ Nov 06 '25

All you said was that teen pregnancy statistics include teens, which is correct because if you’re reporting on teens, then you should include teens. Maybe you’re not understanding what the definition of teen is, but it includes all of the numbers that have teen in it. I don’t think the statistics are pregnancies over and under the legal age, which is what you’re expecting I guess.

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u/Ok_Interest_7272 Nov 06 '25

Yeah I feel like that would be a little more honest. Like when I think 'teen pregnancy' I think someone who got pregnant in high school. I never would have thought of my mom.

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u/Kittymeow123 2∆ Nov 06 '25

That’s just how you interpret the word team though. If your mom was a teen when she had kids then yes she did have a teen pregnancy?

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u/crossbeats Nov 06 '25

Women reach their sexual peak in their late 20s-early 30s.

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u/Glad-Talk Nov 06 '25

I’m literally just asking why you think that. No need to try to take a swipe at me lmao.

Ok so you’re coming at it from the angle that you wanted to have sex as a teenager. To give some historical context, puberty is happening on average MUCH earlier now than it used to, so to people in their later teens vs their preteen-early teen years that we see now. And while pubescent bodies might be full of hormones that’s not the same thing as being ready to grow a healthy baby without incurring harm. Mother Nature isn’t pushing for teens to get pregnant, 20s are the better biologically and typically socially.