Rebecca A. Maynard

Rebecca A. Maynard is associated with the Robin Hood Foundation, a charitable organization that funds antipoverty programs and schools for children and adolescents. The following viewpoint is an excerpt of its report, Kids Having Kids, edited by Maynard. Maynard writes that adolescent pregnancy is a serious problem that adversely affects not just the children born out of wedlock, but their mothers, fathers, and society as well. According to Maynard, illegitimate children are more likely to have difficulties in school, suffer health problems, have fewer job prospects, and end up in jail or prison. In addition, she maintains, their parents face welfare dependency, fewer educational prospects, and lower earnings. Society also pays the price for illegitimacy, she contends, because it is forced to pay the costs associated with teen pregnancy.

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