CDC Study Finds Two in 10 Teen Births are “Repeats”
Of the 365,000 teens who gave birth in the US in 2010, almost 20% involved mothers who already had at least one child, says a new report from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 
The good news is that number has fallen to a 20-year low.
But the figure still concerns Dr. Lee Warner with the CDC’s Division of Reproductive Health.
“From a parent’s standpoint, teen pregnancy and childbearing has potential negative consequences for mother and child–so limited education, limited job possibilities,” he says.
Warner says American Indian, (21.6 percent), Hispanics (20.9 percent), and non-Hispanic blacks (20.4 percent) represented the highest rates of multiple births. The lowest, 14.8 percent, were to non-Hispanic whites.
States in the South and the West also accounted for a disproportionate number of repeat teen births.
To keep the numbers declining, Warner says teens need better access to effective contraceptives. He also says a federal program that offers in-home visitation to teen parents has proven successful.
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