Fondren, Michael: Teens and Contraception

                  There are many issues regarding the use of contraceptives. Here are two articles that I will analyze regarding them.

            The first article by Milly Dawson, titled "Parents Prefer Some, Often Less-Effective, Birth Control Methods for Teens." First talks about how if more parents are accepting of their daughter's autonomy, they are more willing to see a doctor for birth control pills and condoms. The author cites Lauren Hartman from the Journal of Adolescent Health.  She writes that teen pregnancy and STDs are still very high because better contraceptives aren’t used. She found that 59% of parents/guardians favored birth controls, 51% condoms, 46% injections, 45% morning-after pills, 42% patches, and 32% implants. IUDs were the lowest accepted (18%) in the study. Researchers surmised that long term contraceptives were not as popular because parents aren’t in favor of on-going sexual relationships. Cori Baill, M.D., believes these results may relate to the Dalkon shield IUD incidents in the past. Baill believes parents should notice that the risks of pregnancy outweigh those of contraceptives.

            The next article by Charles Bankhead, titled "IUDs, Implants Best Teen Birth Control, ACOG Says.” Starts off with the ACOG stating that implants and intrauterine devices have the best protection against pregnancy. It states that teens who use short term contraceptives are at more risk of becoming pregnant than those who use long term ones.  ACOG states that short term contraceptives are too weak, leading to unexpected pregnancies in the long run. Short term contraceptives results in 80% of unintentional teen pregnancies, 20% of these are in the U.S. One study of women 15 to 45, some using short-term, others using long-term contraceptives. Found that continuation was higher as of the long-term contraceptives. Unexpected pregnancies were 22 times worse with short-term contraceptives. Both IUDs and implant contraceptives were viewed favorably in this study. ACOG suggests that doctors recommend these to better prevent HIVs and STDs. However, ACOG acknowledges that these types are unfamiliar to adolescents, expensive, not as available, and come with their own health concerns. So, they recommend that public clinics deal with these problems.

            The use of contraceptives is very important issue to discuss. These are just a little information people should know before they do.