The negative economic effect that teen pregnancy has on young mothers also impacts the nation’s economy as a whole, according to a report from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

Thirty four percent of young teen mothers earn neither a college degree nor a high school diploma, and less than two percent of teen mothers earn a degree by the time they turn 30. Because teenage pregnancy deters increased education, it leads to significant amounts of lost earnings, which negatively effect the economy as a whole, the study points out:

Nearly one-third of teen girls who have dropped out of high school cite early pregnancy or parenthood as a key reason. [...] According to the Alliance for Excellent Education, it is estimated that over the course of his or her lifetime, a single high school dropout costs the nation approximately $260,000 in lost earnings, taxes, and productivity. Put another way, if students who dropped out of the Class of 2011 had graduated from high school, the nation’s economy would likely benefit from nearly $154 billion in additional income over the course of their lifetimes.

The country’s lost earnings from an increased number of high school and college drop-outs are compounded by the estimated billions of dollars that teenage pregnancies cost taxpayers each year, mainly due to increased public sector health care costs.

Despite the good news that the U.S.’s nationwide teen pregnancy rate is dropping, the rates of teenage motherhood remain highest in states that promote abstinence-only policies. Ultimately, providing young women with insufficient and misleading information about their reproductive health has a dramatically negative economic impact on the nation’s teenage mothers and on the nation as a whole.

Even though much of the Affordable Care Act does not go into effect until 2014, conservatives insist the bill is making things worse for Americans. But a new study shows that one implemented provision of the ACA is already providing millions of young Americans with health insurance.

According to a study by the Commonwealth Fund, 6.6 million young adults have signed up for coverage through their parents’ health insurance plans. Under the ACA provision, young people can now stay on their parents’ plans until the age of 26. About half of the 19-to-25 year-olds interviewed for the study reported opting in to their parents’ plans between November 2010 and November 2011.

Last month, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Education Secretary Arne Duncan wrote college presidents and student organizations urging them to remind students they can stay on their parents’ plans after graduation. “Now, graduating students are free to make career choices based on what they want to do, not where they can get health insurance,” they wrote.

Some of President Obama’s staunchest critics are also beginning to realize the benefit of increased young people in insurance pools. Republican Senators Scott Brown and Roy Blunt broke ranks to speak approvingly of the provision. Even Tea Party favorite Rep. Allen West signaled his support of the measure in an interview with ThinkProgress.

A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll also showed that about 71 percent of Americans view the provision favorably.

Late last year, the government estimated there would be 2.5 million new young adults covered under the provision. The new estimate is higher, in part, because it also includes young people who were previously covered but were able to obtain better, cheaper coverage under the Obamacare provision.

– Steven Perlberg

During a press conference Thursday, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and two high ranking retired military officers said that giving women in the military the same access to health care that civilians, federal employees, and female inmates have is a matter of equity and fairness. Right now, the Department of Defense is prohibited by law from including coverage for abortions in the case of rape or incest in military insurance plans, denying members of the military affordable access to healthcare in a time of need.

Under an exception to the Hyde Amendment, which limits the use of federal money to fund abortions, civilians enrolled in Medicaid, Medicare, or the Indian Health Services and non-military federal employees all have access to an affordable abortion in the case of rape or incest, or if the life of the woman is in danger. Even inmates in correctional facilities enjoy the same access to an affordable abortion (except in the case of incest). Military members only have access to an affordable abortion if the life of the woman is in danger.

Retired Army Major General Gale Pollock and Retired Army General Dennis Laich, representing the Stand with Servicewomen coalition, joined Sen. Shaheen in support of giving service members the same rights to affordable health services as the civilians they protect.

Pollock: It makes me incredibly angry to know that our servicewomen and military wives and daughters, who all serve and sacrifice for their country, lack the same coverage civilian women have in the wake of sexual assualt. While we appropriately show federal employees, women in prison, and women enrolled in Medicaid compassion if they become pregnant as a result of rape, Congress has said to our servicewomen, ‘You’re on your own.’ This is wrong.

Laich: Women compose almost 15% of our military today, serving with courage and distinction in every branch of service. Lifting this ban is not only a matter of basic fairness, it’s also a matter of ensuring military readiness. As more and more service members learn of this unjust ban, the morale of our troops will suffer, adversely affecting recruiting and retention….The health and wellbeing of our military depends on our willingness to care for service members no matter the circumstances.

Sen. Shaheen sponsered an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act to allow the military to fund abortion in the case of rape or incest that was approved by the Senate Armed Forces Committee 16-10, including the votes of three Republicans. The NDAA awaits action on the Senate floor.

–Alex Brown