Graciela Benavides had planned to be in law school by now. But she got pregnant when she was 16 and has to focus on caring and providing for her now 5-year-old daughter. As Tatiana quietly played Hungry Hungry Hippos at a table a few feet away, the 22-year-old mom said she loves her daughter deeply but sometimes thinks how her life would have been different if she had waited longer to have a child. "I do have a bit of regret because I feel like if I didn't have her, I would have been more free to do other things," she said. Hundreds of Long Island teenagers have babies every year. But far fewer are giving birth than in the 1990s and 2000s, mirroring state and federal trends that experts said are driven primarily by greater use of effective contraception. Link in bio for more on what some surveys, researchers and doctors have said. . . Photo credit: Alejandra Villa Loarca . #longisland #longislandny #teenpregnancy