Answer:

One major source of confusion in the literature dealing with teen pregnancy and childbearing is precisely the distinction between pregnancy and its outcomes. People often say they're referring to teenage pregnancy when they only have information on births. Pregnancy can be resolved in a number of ways, only one of which is a live birth kept by the mother. However, in talking about the problems of teen pregnancy, the problems that have been well-documented to date are those associated with that one outcome—bearing and raising a child as a teenager. Another set of confusions revolves around the process which leads ultimately to childbearing and its implications for policy and programs. For example, an agency may be interested in developing a profile of young women at risk of teen childbearing to target them for intervention. As discussed in earlier chapters, in order to become a teen mother, a young woman must first become sexually active, next, not use contraception or fail in its use in some way (including experiencing method failure), and, finally, once pregnant, decide to bear and raise the child herself. There are several points at which alternatives present themselves. Some teens choose one way, others choose another. Thus the agency has several possible points at which to target its interventions: at initiation of sexual activity, at contraceptive use, or, at the resolution of a pregnancy.