Lower Drinking Age Associated with Poor Birth Outcomes

A recent study from the University of Georgia concludes that lowering the legal drinking age could affect the rate of unplanned pregnancies and pre-term births among young women.

The findings suggest that lowering the drinking age makes alcohol more accessible to young people, which could lead to an increase in unplanned pregnancies. Unexpected pregnancies, in turn, result in negative birth outcomes for infants, since teens who get pregnant unexpectedly are less likely to get good prenatal care and may not be as interested in the child as someone who had planned to get pregnant, according to Angela Fertig, one of the authors of the study and an assistant professor at the UGA College of Public Health.

The study appeared in the May 2009 issue of the Journal of Health Economics. You can view the abstract here.