Ochs, Addison: Teens and Contraception

            Unintentional pregnancy among teenagers is an occurrence of high proportion. More often than not, simple ignorance is to blame on both parents and child. Parents should more willingly inform their daughters about the uses of long and short-term contraceptive methods in an effort to cure any misconceptions associated. The articles encourage use of long-term contraceptives because they have been proven more effective than the more common short-term contraceptives.

            The majority of teens who participate in sexual intercourse and who use contraception use short-term contraceptive techniques such as condoms or morning after pills. These, however, are prone to failure due to misuse and manufacturing errors. “Long-acting methods, such as contraceptive implants and intrauterine devices, afford the best protection against unintended pregnancy among adolescents.” (1) Access to these forms of contraception however, is much more difficult to obtain than say a simple condom or pill. Ideally, making these long-acting contraception techniques more readily available to teenage girls should encourage their usage and, in turn, significantly reduce the rate of unwanted pregnancies.  

            Of course, these techniques do not help too much when the parents are not willing to provide their daughters with sufficient information on the topic. “Parents of teen girls are more ready to accept their daughters being offered birth control pills and condoms during doctor visits than other, more effective and long-acting contraceptive methods.”(2)  Parents, too, often confuse the topic of contraception with the idea of their daughter engaging in a sexual relationship. (2) Therefore some parents might believe that if the topic is not discussed, then it does not exist. However this is not the case. Engaging in sexual activity and doing it safely are two different topics. When parents understands this, they are more willing to discuss long-acting contraception techniques with their child and her doctor.

            To be correctly informed about different contraceptive techniques is half the battle against unwanted pregnancy; the other half is getting teens to use them. Even with a long-acting contraceptive method, partners should continue to use a condom. Condoms still remain the best preventative against sexually transmitted diseases, such as AIDs and HIV.

           

Work Cited

Charles Bankhead, “IUDs, Implants Best Teen Birth Control, ACOG Says”, published    September 21, 2012. http://www.medpagetoday.com/OBGYN/GeneralOBGYN/34895 .

Milly Dawson, “Parents Prefer Some, Often Less-Effective, Birth Control Methods for Teens”,

            Published September 6, 2012.            http://www.cfah.org/hbns/archives/getDocument.cfm?documentID=22547