Akkari, Hamed: Teens and Contraception

Contraception, especially for teenagers, is a serious issue that must be discussed within the family in order to avoid misperceptions and blind assumptions about basic facts as soon as a teenager starts being sexually active. Studies point out that 42% of adolescents between the ages of 15 to 19 have engaged in sexual intercourse. Furthermore, unexpected pregnancies among teenagers have reached a high level in the U.S mainly due to the use of ineffective methods of contraception such as pills or condoms. Both of the articles, IUDs, Implants Best Teen Birth Control, ACOG Say, and Parents Prefer Some, Often Less-Effective, Birth Control Methods for Teens urge adolescents to use long term contraceptive for their better effectiveness.

According to a study in the Journal of Adolescent Health, parents are not willing to accept their daughter being offered long acting contraceptive methods and are more likely to accept short-term contraceptive methods. The study also affirms that the reason for such a choice is that parents might associate long acting contraception, such as IUDs, which has been proven to have a pregnancy rate of less than 1%, with an ongoing sexual relationship. In other words, parents are not comfortable with the possibility of their children having an ongoing but well protected sexual relationship through IUDs. Yet, they are indirectly accepting such a lifestyle with less effective contraceptive methods, which increases the risks of sexually transmitted diseases and an unwanted pregnancy.

Indeed it is an infringement of teenagers’ rights to interfere in their autonomy, but parents need at least to communicate to their children information about the different types of contraceptive methods and about the consequences which arise from the use of the short term ones. Bankhead stated that more than 80% of teen pregnancies are unintended, reflecting high rates of non-use, inconsistent use, and use of failure-prone contraceptive methods. Short lasting contraceptive which are considered less effective than IUDs, are in high demand by teenagers. The reason for that is mainly because they don’t require permanent use, and they are easily accessible unlike implants and intrauterine devices which are costly and hard to obtain.

            In order to enforce the use of contraceptive implants and intrauterine devices among teenagers nowadays, these methods should be easily accessible. And, along with these methods, condoms should consistently be used to protect against STDs, according to Bankhead.

Shaffer, Cullen: Teens and Contraception

            Contraceptives are an integral part of having a safe and satisfying sexual life. Every woman needs to find the ideal contraceptive to fulfill her needs. The most effective contraceptives are the ones which work over the long term. However, a small minority, only “5% of use among teens” utilize such contraception techniques (IUDs). The ignorance of the effectiveness of the long term contraceptives is somewhat alarming and definitely correlates positively to the number of unplanned pregnancies in America. The proportion of women younger than 20 that use long term contraceptives is extremely low, partially due to the fact that parents won't acquire the long term contraception for their daughters because that would indicated that their daughters engage will engage in sexual intercourse for that long and often - “with an ongoing sexual relationship” (Parents Prefer Some). Parents are also not fond of IUDs because in the past some such as the “Dalkon shield… marketed IUD with considerable safety problems” frequently presented dire health consequences to the unlucky users of the product (Parents Prefer Some). Better contraceptive methods would be more readily available to adolescent girls if “a parent respects their daughter’s autonomy, the more likely that a parent is to accept a doctor offering their daughter any type of contraceptive (Parents Prefer Some).  

            Teen pregnancies are becoming an issue and are also helping to fuel the controversial abortion debate. It has been reported that “more than 80% of teen pregnancies are unintended.” This is caused not only by the weaker effectiveness of the short term contraceptives, but also by not utilizing long term contraceptives. More women should use the IUD method because the failure rate is “less than one percent” which is significantly lower than the failure rate of other contraceptive methods (Parental Acceptability). IUDs are the safest method overall because “ of high rates of inconsistent use and…. Use of failure prone contraceptive methods”. IUDs eliminate unnecessary risks and allow for a safer sexual lifestyle. In short, IUDs would more than eliminate teen pregnancies while also protecting the health of females and reduce number of circumstances that would result in abortion.

White, Jerilyn: Teens and Contraception

                  Sexually active teens are often not appropriately informed about sexual health. Therefore, they may make erroneous sexual decisions. Dawson and Bankhead clearly conveyed this message in their articles. Parents of teens are usually comfortable with providing their teen daughters with contraceptives, especially short-term ones such as birth control pills, the shot, the patch, and condoms. Some would say that such contraceptive methods are beneficial and practical, but they are not effective. Studies show that teens who use short-term contraceptive are more likely to contract sexually transmitted diseases and infections, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and unplanned pregnancies. So why not use long-term reversible contraceptives? Although long-term reversible contraceptive methods (for example; inter uterine devices [IUDs]) are more effective, many teens and parents of teens believe that they bring up issues such as confidentiality, price, and safety. Only 4.5% of teens use long-term reversible contraceptives. The authors seem concerned about how misinformed parents and teens are. Teens may not know about the effect of their choices of contraceptives because they are not properly informed. Parents play a vital role in informing their teen children about sexual health. If teens are provided with wrong information they may make the wrong decisions. Also, if parents are educated in sexual health they can make their teens feel more comfortable. Comfort t is also important when making decisions about this sensitive subject. Parents and teen stray from long-term reversible contraceptive because of past stories about the Dalkon Shield. If more parents get involved in their teen’s sexual lives by teaching them about contraceptives, taking them to sexual education classes and clinics, then pregnancy and sexual transmitted diseases among teens will certainly decrease and the use of long-term reversible contraceptives might just increase.

Cecil, Allie: Teens and Contraception

Have you realized how much more common it is to hear someone ages 15-19 are becoming pregnant lately then a few years ago? So why not use a contraceptive, especially the most effective contraceptive? Some contraceptives are more actually effective than others based on studies. They show that long-term contraceptives work better than short-term contraceptives, but oddly enough, parents of teens actually prefer their child to use short-term contraceptives.

According to the Journal of Adolescent Health by Milly Dawson, parents are more accepting for their daughters to take a short-term contraceptive offered at the doctor’s office, such as birth control pills. According to a phone survey of 261 parents of teens they preferred their daughter to use “birth control (59 percent), 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).  Teens also prefer the easier, short-term contraceptives as well” (Dawson).

Teenage pregnancies are mostly the result of not using contraceptives or by misusing them. “An update to an opinion issued in 2007 the statement points out that 42% of adolescents ages 15 to 19 have engaged in sexual intercourse," (Bankhead). He also states that teenagers are responsible for 20% of unintended pregnancies in the United States. And that 80% are unintended. Also, short -term contraceptives have a 22% higher rate of pregnancy than long-term contraceptives.

Teens who choose to participate in sexual intercourse need to be more educated on the contraceptives they are choosing. So should their parents. Although the short-term contraceptive is easier and may seem faster, it is a lot easier to become pregnant using these short-term contraceptives rather than using a long-term contraceptive.

Lillard, Kelsey: Teens and Contraception

            In the articles Parents Prefer Some, Often Less-Effective, Birth Control Methods for Teens by Milly Dawson and IUDs, Implants Best Teen Birth Control, ACOG Says

by Charles Bankhead the authors argued that both teens and their parents prefer less effective birth control methods, when much better options are available. But why? Parents did not want their child to become pregnant but they didn't like the thought of their child in an ongoing sexual relationship.  “Among U.S. adolescents, rates of unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections remain high,” said lead author Lauren Hartman, M.D. In American society, the small percentage of people using longer-acting birth control methods could be explained by society's view of medicine in general and the memory of the Dalkon shield that posed considerable safety problems in women. To help prevent more unwanted pregnancies, which account for 80% of teenage pregnancies, Bankhead presents the idea of offering longer-acting birth control methods in public clinics or through referrals, more teenagers will opt to try these highly effective methods. Unintended pregnancy rates were a staggering 22 times higher with short-acting methods, such as condoms and oral contraception. Why would people not give the IUD's and other long-lasting methods a chance? When phone surveys were done, caregivers still showed favoritism toward birth control pills (with 59% accepting it) while IUDs and implants were viewed as least acceptable. A study of contraceptive practices among 4,167 women aged 15 to 45 showed 12-month continuation rates of 86% for long-acting methods vs. 55% for short-acting methods.

             I believe the longer IUDs and implants are around, the more acceptable they will become. Time changes things, birth control pills were originally labeled as taboo, but over time many women came to feel differently, so much so that today parents prefer it most for their children.

Adams, George: Teens and Contraception

Sexual health and different kinds of contraception are a constant source of discussion among adolescents, other family members, and experienced doctors in the field.  The two articles both discuss short-term and long-term contraceptive methods and how long-term contraceptive methods are much more effective than short-term methods.

The first talks about how sexually active teens do not use contraception to block the transmission of STDs and how effective uses of contraception are still underused.  Later it reports on a survey of parents of daughters aged 12 to 17 and which method of contraception their daughter was using.  The majority of parents said they would rather have their daughter use short-term contraceptive methods, such as the pill and condoms, rather than long-term methods such as implants and IUDs.  Furthermore, parents may not be keen on the idea of their daughter using long-term methods as this may lead to a continuous sexual relationship whereas short-term methods can be used easily when the chance of a sexual interaction occurs.  Parents were also wary of IUDs after the Dalkon Shield problem where the IUD was marketed aggressively even though it had safety problems.

The second article talks about how contraceptive implants and intrauterine devices provide the best protection from unwanted pregnancies and that the majority of adolescents still use short-acting methods of contraception when engaging in sexual intercourse.  Discussion about the effectiveness of long-term contraception follows this and its protection rate of less than 1% per year.  It states that 80% of teen pregnancies are unplanned and this is reflective of the use of failure-prone contraceptive methods.  Then it recommends that healthcare providers should advise sexually active teens to use contraception to decrease the risk of transmission of STDs.  It ends by listing the reasons why adolescents aren’t using long-term contraception methods.  Those are lack of familiarity, expense and lack of access.  The author suggested approaching a public clinic in order to expand access to these methods.  The clinic would also provide additional information on the methods and could answer any questions adolescents had about such methods.

Canada, Trent: Teens and Contraception

                  According to studies, today’s teens are more likely to have unprotected intercourse. Are teens being offered the right contraception to accommodate these behaviors? Most of the time the answer is no because when teens, mostly females, enter a physician’s office for a check-up they are offered both condoms and birth control. These are both effective and can be used for certain prevention, but are they more effective than long lasting conctraception is the question.  In most cases the IUDs are what a teen should be offered when approaching a relationship that will involve intercourse.

                  Condoms and birth control pills are probably one of the most common contraception methods and the most likely fail during intercourse. When parents were studied on their acceptance of contraception methods their results showed that they preferred some the less effective methods like birth control pills and condoms over IUDs. Condoms are less effective due the risk of breaking and the likelihood of leakage, and birth control pills follow the failure rate of condoms in the sense that the method must be taken daily to work and sometimes be forgotten.  On the other hand IUDs are long lasting birth control methods that in installed within the uterus that can actually prevent unwanted pregnancy, but not STIs that condoms can prevent.

                  Even though IUDs are more effective they are not widely accepted. IUDs are the least accepted by parents, and almost never recommended by doctors. That IUDs are last accepted by parents is shown in studies because of lack of knowledge or fear of the uncertain safety issues. Also IUDs are not recommended by doctors regularly due to the insurance difficulties, price, and, again, safety issues.

                  Teens throughout the world are going to experiment with sexual behaviors, but they will not always use the right contraception methods. It is shown in studies that the contraception methods widely used are not the most accepted and that the ones that show more effectiveness are not used. This can only conclude that teens would benefit more from using IUDs than by using contraception methods that could proven ineffective in certain situations.