Certainly none of us want to encourage teenage motherhood, but let's not be the state that allows babies to die while we debate how to prevent it.

Mothers who choose their solo status say the problems that have traditionally burdened families headed by a single mother - poverty, abandonment by fathers, teenage motherhood, parental conflict - do not apply to them.

The grip of teenage motherhood and poverty develops into an insidious cycle, he said.

Although it is a subject often exploited by the media, teenage motherhood has in fact been decreasing.

"The prevention of unplanned teenage motherhood is a public health priority as it can have detrimental effects on the health and socioeconomic status of both mother and child."

The Wilson brief argues that as the connection between marriage and procreation weakens, communities face higher rates of poverty, crime, welfare dependency, child abuse, unwed teenage motherhood, education failures and other social problems.

Grandpa Piggley is also a nod to the increasing involvement that grandparents have in rearing grandchildren in a culture in which families are stressed by divorce, dual-career households, teenage motherhood and other factors.

Higher rates of black male incarceration lowered the odds of nonmarital teenage motherhood and black women's ability to get an educational degree, thus resulting in early employment.

Volscho also noted that the lack of disparities in the different ethnicities during teenage motherhood could be the result of an adverse effect on white women.