Teenage girls who learn that they are pregnant are faced with a difficult decision. Some girls decide to give birth to their babies and raise them. For those who choose not to become mothers, however, their legal options include abortion or adoption.

Abortion has been legal in the United States since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 landmark decision, Roe v. Wade, and has been the subject of heated argument ever since. Advocates of abortion argue that a woman has the right to control what happens to her own body. Proponents of abortion are especially strong advocates of abortion in the case of rape or incest, or when the mother is too young to care for the child. Advocates for Youth, an organization that works to reduce teenage pregnancy, argues that “teen mothers are less likely to...