YWCA England and Wales hopes its Respect campaign will help end prejudice and poverty. A "young mums' charter" calling for benefit changes, web site (www.ywca.org.uk/young mums), and a public appeal for more tolerance all launch today (8 September).
Sally Copley, director of policy, research and campaigns, said the charity did not promote teenage pregnancy but was against young mums being "demonised".
Although the "picture painted is of an epidemic", teenage pregnancies had fallen 9.4 per cent since 1999, she added.
An NOP survey for YWCA in July found almost half of the public reckoned young women got pregnant to get a council house, and two-fifths thought it was to get state benefits.
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