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Keeping mum

Teenage mothers and their children have had some bad press, says Jackie Cosh, but the problem may be the way society sees and treats them The statistics are so well known that they no longer shock - Britain has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Western Europe. Almost 100,000 babies are born to teenage mothers in Britain each year, including 9,000 to girls under the age of 16.

The statistics are so well known that they no longer shock - Britain has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Western Europe. Almost 100,000 babies are born to teenage mothers in Britain each year, including 9,000 to girls under the age of 16.

The Government's goal of halving the teenage pregnancy rate by 2000 has now been postponed until 2010 because the rate has remained unchanged over the past decade. And after a recent study into the causes of violence, criminologist George Hosking said parents aged under 16 were contributing to 'a cycle' of aggression that meant Britons were now 25 times more likely to be a victim of violence than they were 50 years ago.

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