Key Information about South Carolina
STATISTICS
Number of Teen Pregnancies in 2010: 10,490
Teen Pregnancy Rate: ranks #41 out of 50 states (1 is best, 50 is worst)
Change in Teen Pregnancy Rate (1988-2010): 43%, which ranks #31 in the rate of
decline (vs. 48% nationally)
Number of Teen Births in 2012: 5,537
Teen Birth Rate in 2012: ranks #39 out of 50
Change in Teen Birth Rate (1991-2012): 50%, which ranks #28 in the rate of decline (vs.
52% nationally)
Number of Unintended Pregnancies in 2008 to women ages 15-44: 50,000
Percent of all pregnancies that are unintended: 56%, which ranks #42 (median = 51%)
Cost of Teen Childbearing
In 2010, the public cost of teen childbearing in South Carolina was $166 million
(national cost= at least $9.4 billion)
Between 1991 and 2010, there were 166,542 births to teens, costing taxpayers $4.5
billion over this period
Because of the 41% reduction in the teen childbearing rate between 1991 and 2010,
taxpayers saved $172 million in 2010
Cost of Unintended Pregnancy
In 2008, the public costs for births resulting from unintended pregnancies in South
Carolina was $262 million, which ranks #32 (national cost = at least $12.5 billion)
Medicaid
In 2010, 50% of births in South Carolina were funded by Medicaid
South Carolina has a Medicaid family planning expansion
FEDERAL TEEN PREGNANCY PREVENTION GRANTS
Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP): $700,382
Grantee: South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control is working in
collaboration with the South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy to implement the
PREP grant. The funds are supporting evidence-based programs serving high-risk youth across
the state including those in foster care and the juvenile justice system, in both school and
community-based settings.
State Abstinence Education Grant: $787,184
Grantee: South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control is implementing the State
Abstinence Education Grant in collaboration with two local entities in 9 counties. The state
program targets young people ages 10–19 in both community-based and school-based settings.
Competitive Abstinence Education Grant Program
The Children's Council
Lancaster, SC
$200,000
Office of Adolescent Health Tier 1:
South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
Columbia, SC
Program model: It’s Your Game: Keep It Real
$1,469,480
The South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy will implement It’s Your Game: Keep
It Real in 24 middle schools across the state of South Carolina and will reach a minimum of
9,600 youth over the 5-year project. The project also includes an independently conducted
rigorous evaluation. They are focusing their efforts on two very specific goals: (1) decrease the
number of adolescent females in South Carolina who become pregnant before graduating from
high school; and (2) increase the number of middle schools in South Carolina that institutionalize
an evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention curriculum.
CDC: $1,486,232
The South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy (SC Campaign) has received
$1,486,232 to implement innovative, multicomponent, communitywide initiatives to prevent teen
pregnancy, with a focus on reaching African American and Latino youth aged 15–19 years. The
project is reducing teen pregnancy among ethnic minority youth in Spartanburg and Horry
Counties by increasing access to high quality, evidence-based and evidence-informed youth
development and teen pregnancy prevention programs, and increasing linkages between these
programs and community-based clinical services. Major activities include developing a
Community Advisory Group with representatives from a Youth Advisory Panel and local clinics,
educating leadership on evidence-based programming, and developing content for an Online
Learning Center aimed at building capacity among local partner organizations.
Pregnancy Assistance Fund
Children’s Trust Fund of South Carolina
Columbia, SC
Program Categories: Institutions of Higher Education, High Schools and Community Service
Centers, and Public Awareness and Education
$1,500,000
Funded 2013 – 2016
TITLE X FAMILY PLANNING SERVICES IN SOUTH CAROLINA
In 2010, 68 family planning centers in South Carolina received support from Title X.
They included: health department clinics (67) and federally qualified health centers (1).
Title X–supported centers provided contraceptive care to 91,390 women in South
Carolina in 2010.
In 2010, contraceptive services provided at Title X–supported centers in South Carolina
helped women avoid 22,900 unintended pregnancies, which would have resulted in
11,400 births and 7,800 abortions.
In the absence of these services, the number of abortions in South Carolina would be 62%
higher.
In the absence of these services, the number of teen pregnancies in South Carolina would
be 38% higher.
By helping women avoid unintended pregnancies and the births that would follow, the
services provided at Title X-supported centers in South Carolina saved $142.5 million in
public funds in 2010.
About the National Campaign: The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned
Pregnancy is a nonprofit, nonpartisan initiative supported almost entirely by private donations.
The National Campaign seeks to improve the lives and future prospects of children and families
and, in particular, to help ensure that children are born into stable, two-parent families who are
committed to and ready for the demanding task of raising the next generation. Our specific
strategy is to prevent teen pregnancy and unplanned pregnancy among single, young adults. We
support a combination of responsible values and behavior by both men and women and
responsible policies in both the public and private sectors. If we are successful, child and family
well-being will improve. There will be less poverty, more opportunities for young men and
women to complete their education or achieve other life goals, fewer abortions, and a stronger
nation.
Please visit www.TheNationalCampaign.org to find out more.