It's National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
Today is the seventh annual National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. It's organized by a non-profit, non-partisan group and directs teens to a website that offers a quiz to encourage them to think about what they would do in certain sexual situations. I'm all for creative ways (and websites) that drive home the very real possibilities of pregnancy and infection when you're sexually active. But I fear that the message of the day, "Sex has consequences," will be heard by teens as another "Just say no" command that has no bearing on their everyday lives. Truth is, the average age of first intercourse in the U.S. is about 17--and that's been essentially unchanged for the past decades (and quite possibly the past century). And about 25 percent of teens don't use any form of contraception the first time they have sex. So how do we balance acknowledging teens' sexuality with breaking through their feelings of invincibility? As a gyno who has many teen patients, I want them to know that I know they're having sex, and that I think it's okay (if they care what I think)...but they still need to protect themselves.
Did you use birth control or a condom the first time you had sex?
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