Media Release

Delayed Motherhood Improves Outcomes

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

New research just published from the Christchurch Health and Development Study shows that young women who chose abortions had significantly better outcomes in terms of education, income, welfare dependence and domestic violence than those who became mothers before the age of twenty one.

Welfare commentator, Lindsay Mitchell, welcomes these findings.

"Most women will become mothers at some point in their lives. Ideally it should happen when they are mature enough to parent effectively, in a stable relationship and financially capable of raising a child. Having a child as a teenager very often means the mother never attains any of these prerequisites despite continuing to produce babies."

"This is evidenced by the high number of teenage mothers who stay on welfare long-term. At least 40 percent of mothers currently on the DPB first received welfare under twenty. Well over half are Maori. Their children experience more poverty, more transience, poorer health and educational outcomes and are at greater risk of developing behavioural problems."

"This research shows that for young women abortion can improve their life course outcomes. Presumably this would also apply to the children they go on to have in later life."

ENDS

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