Abstract

PIP: By age 19, the average North American man has had sex with 5.11 people. Almost two thirds of high-school senior-aged women have had sex. While the rates of sexual activity among teens in the US are not substantially different from rates in other developed western countries, adolescent pregnancy rates in the US are several times higher than in most other countries. These high rates of adolescent pregnancy are partly due to the collective reluctance among adults in the US to discuss sexuality issues with adolescents and provide them with contraception. Effective communication is the key to providing contraception to teens. Studies have clearly shown that teens are interested in sexuality and would like to discuss the issue with their physicians. The author notes that any successful program to reduce unwanted pregnancies among teens will understand that teens are often concrete thinkers focused upon their physical appearance and dedicated to taking risks. Oral contraception, long-acting progestin methods, condoms, and other options are discussed. However, emergency contraception with birth control pills is the one most important contraceptive option which can be provided to teens. The approach has recently been approved by the FDA Advisory Board for both safety and efficacy. Recent studies, however, show that less than 10% of US clinicians informed their patients of the availability of emergency contraception. Information on providers of emergency contraception can be obtained by dialing Princeton University's Office of Population Research's toll-free emergency contraception hotline at (800) 584-9911.