s'exactly what you'd expect

It has been reported in the media today that teenage pregnancies have risen for the first time in several years, which has got me thinking.
Firstly, the statistics that show a rise include girls up to the age of 18. Now, I certainly do not think it is sensible or desirable to be starting a family below the age of 18 but there is nothing at all about this that is illegal. After all the age of consent is 16, and by 17 or 18 a girl could be legally married and working if we assume she left school after her GCSE's. OK, so that is unlikely to be the situation the majority of these girls are in but I do wonder why they are included in these statistics since they have done nothing wrong.
I also wonder how much these statistics are skewed according to ethnicity or religion. Yeah, it might not be PC, but many of the muslim people I have spoken to believe it is desirable for a girl to be married, and reproducing as soon as possible, and I have known of many muslim girls of 16 or 17 in my area who are married and several who become parents very soon after. I have also spoken with catholic people of various nationalities who share a similar view. So it would be interesting to see a breakdown of these teen pregnancy statistics by religion and ethnicity just to see if there is any correlation.
With regards the under 16 pregnancy rates; why are the fathers of these babies not being prosecuted for statutory rape? If the age of consent is 16 and these girls are below that age then the men they slept with have, by the legal definition, committed a rape. I realise this gets a bit stickier when the male is also underage but I would hazard a guess that some of the fathers are over 16.
I can't see teen pregnancy rates dropping off significantly any time soon. We have a strange view on sex as a society. On the one hand many people, especially the older generations still consider it to be a taboo subject, yet at the same time sex is used all the time, in films, in TV, in huge billboard posters. As a society we tell people it is wrong to have a sex underage but do not explain the full emotional consequences that make it so and instead bullshit about risks of STDs and pregnancy (not that they aren't issues, but they are not the be all and end all). Even though we tell schoolchildren that having a child at that age will mess up their future prospects in reality these girls are often given specialist help and education, a council property and benefits.
It may sound like an outdated right wing whinge, but I really would remove incentives for teen mothers (of the under 16 variety). No council house, no benefit money, instead they could go and live in a teen mother and baby unit. They would be expected to look after the children, complete their education to a level where they could get a job, be expected to work part time alongside their studies while their kids were in the units creche and would get no preferential treatment or funding. The babies would not suffer at all, in fact they would at least have the chance of a decent life and the mothers would be equipped to go and get a job rather than loafing around at the taxpayers expense.
For my views on sex education please read the post: girl+boy=xxx (I can't link it at the minute as my internet is being crap)