AFY_EmilyB
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A new study from the CDC examined unintended pregnancies among teens, and found that half of teens who were sexually active but didn't want to become pregnant, were not using contraception.
Why weren't they using contraception? Some of the findings are troubling:
- Thirty percent believed they could not become pregnant at the time (even though about 90 percent of sexually active teens using no method become pregnant within a year of having sex)
- 25 percent didn't use contraception because they believed their partner didn't want to use contraception.
- 13 percent reported lack of access to contraception.
Furthermore, 45% of the teens who became pregnanct were using hormonal birth control or condoms. Since with proper use, pills are over 90% effective and condoms are 80% effective, this points to irregular or incorrect use of the method.
Misunderstanding of the possibility of pregnancy, lack of access to contraception, an inability to negotiate contraceptive use, and a tendency to use contraception sporadically or incorrectly: all symptoms of the mixed messages and embarrassed silence teens absorb about sexuality, both from sex education still dominated by abstinence-only funding and its legacy, and from a culture that both glorifies and vilifies teen sexuality.
A comparison to European rates of teen pregnancy, sexual behavior, and contraception use is especially revealing: teens in France, Germany, and the Netherlands aren't less likely to have sex, but they are far less likely to become pregnant and far more likely to be using hormonal contraception. That's the result of both public policy, and a cultural committment to honest communication around sexuality.
Most teens do not want to become pregnant. Society should be empowering them to keep those intentions, not throwing up roadblocks.
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