ABSTRACT
In June 1999 the government published a report on teenage pregnancy. The report outlined a national teenage pregnancy strategy. The government’s aim is to halve conceptions to people aged under 18 by 2010 and to reduce the social exclusion of people who do become young parents.1 The government took this step because every year there are nearly 90,000 conceptions to teenagers in England and the effects for the 56,000 young women who give birth can include poverty, unemployment, poor health and isolation.2 In addition, the daughters born to these young women are more likely to become teenage parents themselves3 and a cycle of social exclusion can begin. These figures are the highest in western Europe. Teenage birth rates in the UK are twice as high as in Germany, three times as high as in France and six times as high as in the Netherlands.4
