Advocacy is one of the core strategies we use to empower young people to make healthy choices for their bodies and their futures. Through advocacy, we can shape the way that teens can access the information and the healthcare they need, creating an enormous potential for change. Read more below about one of the bills we support this legislative session.

Dear John,

A teen mother has a legal right and duty to consent to all medical care for her child and make important health-related decisions. However, under Texas state law, if she is under the age of 18, she is not allowed to consent to her own birth control. And under a glitch in badly-worded state law, she isn’t even allowed to consent to post-partum care.

As part of our Action Drive, The Texas Campaign is actively working to change state law to allow teen mothers to consent to contraception and postpartum care. 

Texas has the 2nd highest rate of repeat teen births nationwide. In 2019, of the 24,093 births to Texas teens aged 15-19, 18% were to girls who already had at least one child. While teen parents can certainly achieve their goals, it becomes harder with each additional unintended birth.

The clock is ticking on this legislative session, but we’re committed to keep up the fight. Teen mothers deserve support and help towards reaching their full potential -- including tools needed to avoid a repeat unintended pregnancy.

Consider a contribution to support this important work!