CDC: One-Third of Pregnancies Are Unintended

The Centers for Disease Control, which has been busy lately, just released a report finding that more than one-third of all births in America are unintended.

These numbers have not changed since 1982. The only difference in the past 30 years is who in that group is getting pregnant before they were ready.  Since the early 80s the unintended pregnancy demographic has shifted from white women to Hispanics and to women in their teens and 20s. Also, it was no surprise that unintended births tend happen to poorer women.

For clarification, “intended” is, of course, a planned pregnancy, “unintended” is where the pregnancy is "mistimed" in terms of when the mother wanted a child, and “unwanted” is a pregnancy she did not want regardless of her having previous children.

It’s believed that the sex was mostly intentional, however. And there is a bright side for the 1/3 of us who were never meant to be: you now have a great excuse to take the afternoon off, show up at concerts without tickets or crash parties you weren’t invited to.