Lewis, Tyler: Teens and Contraception

            In the first article titled Parents Prefer Some, Often Less-Effective, Birth Control Methods for Teens, written by Milly Dawson and published in the Journal Adolescent Health, makes a well-supported claim. Dawson believes that parents of adolescent daughters can increase the prevention of unplanned pregnancies by simply accepting their daughter’s autonomy. In Dawson’s article she explains her stand by citing a phone survey of 261 women. The results were, “Birth control pills won greatest acceptance (59 percent). In decreasing order of acceptability were condoms (51 percent), injectable contraceptives (46 percent), emergency contraception, also known as the morning-after pill (45 percent), birth control patches (42 percent), implants (32 percent) and intrauterine devices or IUDs (18 percent).” With these data at hand, the article's purpose was to teach parents the advantages of long-term contraceptives.

            The second article titled IUDs, Implants Best Teen Birth Control, ACOG Says, pushed the fact that long term contraceptives have been proven to be more successful in the avoidance of unwanted pregnancies.  IUDs have been statistically proven multiple times that they are better than short term contraceptives.  There are financial factors that currently discourage adolescents from receiving IUDs. To solve this issue as Charles Bankhead, staff writer for the Med Page Today wrote, "Addressing issues related to cost, insurance coverage, and confidentiality, the committee suggested referral to a public clinic as a reasonable option to facilitate teenagers' access to long-acting reversible contraceptives.”

            One can easily come to the conclusion that both these articles strongly suggest to use IUDs and other long-term contraceptives based on statistical data. Also, because they are peer-reviewed articles, many other doctors agree. The unintended pregnancy and STD infection rates are critically high. Milly Dawson and Charles Bankhead have shown the best solutions for adolescents engaging sexual activity. The way is to inform parents on IUDs and other long term contraceptives and to make IUDs and other long term contraceptives easier to receive for adolescents.