Public assistance payments have been blamed for increases in out-ofwedlock birth rates among teenagers and other women. The data indicate that rising nonmarital birth rates are primarily caused by a decline in fertility among married women, combined with a growing share of unmarried women in the population. Existing research suggests that these changes have not been driven by public assistance payments; instead they are related to economic and social changes affecting women of all income levels. While hard to predict the effect of eliminating public assistance for teen mothers, it is likely that many teen pregnancies will continue to occur. Other ways to address this problem are discussed at the end of the paper.