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| Unplanned Teen Pregnancies |  Statistics of teenage women who become pregnant reports that about 35% decide to have an abortion rather than bear a baby.
Teenagers with unplanned pregnancies meet complicated choices. If a teen bears and keeps the baby, she will be much more likely than other young women to:
- leave off the school;
- get insufficient prenatal care;
- rely on public support to raise her child;
- develop health problems;
- have her marriage end in divorce.
Children born to teenage mothers are more likely than children of older mothers to undergo significant disadvantages: medical, psychological, economic, and educational.
Lots of states have enacted, or are considering, laws that limit teenagers' access to abortion by demanding parents’ participation in the abortion decision. These laws include:
 Parental notification laws that require medical workers to notify a minor's parent(s) of her purpose to obtain an abortion;
Parental consent laws that require medical staff to acquire written permission from the parent(s) before making an abortion;
Almost all of the parental notification and consent laws have judicial bypass options that permit a teen who feels she cannot engage her parent(s) to get a judge's permission to proceed with her abortion. Some states permit a medical doctor to surrender parental participation, and some permit professional counseling instead of parental involvement.
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