Posts Tagged ‘birth control’

Today is the National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, which is a day to raise awareness about this problem and what we can do to try to prevent it.  Unfortunately, Bristol Palin, 18, has been appearing as a “teen ambassador” on TV and for events on this day. While in an interview on the Fox News Channel several months ago, Bristol said very clearly that teen abstinence is “not realistic at all,”  now she has recanted that statement. This morning she said on Good Morning America that abstinence is the only effective way to prevent pregnancy, and that she is “promoting abstinence.”  She refuses to say publicly that she and other teens must use birth control to prevent pregnancy!  In a post I wrote here in February, I said that I certainly hope that Bristol does not try to speak to teens about pregnancy prevention until she learns how to discuss the use of birth control and condoms. It has been clear for months that she refuses to educate teens in a constructive way, so why was she invited by pregnancy prevention groups to be a spokesperson for this day?! On this National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, my message is to Bristol: Please use birth control effectively, and teach others about it, too. And please stop telling teens that abstinence is the only way, because that is exactly what led to your unplanned pregnancy.

There are too many misconceptions about Plan B, and I’d like to correct some of them.

Yesterday when I appeared on CNN Headline News, I heard many misconceptions about Plan B — also called EC, Emergency Contraception, and The Morning After Pill — and about what it means for our government to allow 17 year olds to buy it without a prescription. Here are the top misconceptions, and then the realities. (more…)

77% of pregnancies among single, educated women in their 20s are accidental.

With last year’s talk of Juno, the Gloucester girls, Bristol Palin, and Jamie Lynn Spears, the media focused on unintended pregnancy of teens. Today, another group is identified at serious risk for unplanned pregnancies: single twentysomethings. According to a new study, 77% of pregnancies among single, educated women in their 20s are accidental.

The study, commissioned by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, is reported in the new issue of Self magazine (with Taylor Swift on the cover). I am quoted in the Self article discussing common traits of some twentysomethings who are abivalent about their future plans, and thus about their birth control choices.

Twentysomethings are very much in need of sex ed. According to The National Campaign study, there are major gaps in the knowledge they have about birth control. For example, more than half say they don’t know about IUDs, Depo-Provera, diaphragms, or the contraceptive ring. Also, 64% do not know that emergency contraception is sold over the counter without a prescription.

The biggest problem is that 54% of sexually active non-monogamous singles surveyed, and 34% of sexually active monogamous singles surveyed, don’t use birth control every time they have sex. Of course, this is why they are getting pregnant. The vast majority of pregnancies are caused by not using or improperly using birth control. Only about 1 in 20 accidental pregnancies are caused by the failure of birth control. The study found that almost 60% of those surveyed underestimate the risk of getting pregnant from not using birth control. They don’t know that among couples who have sex regularly, 85% will experience a pregnancy within one year if they do not use contraception.

There is a huge disconnect for twentysomethings, when 80% believe that pregnancy should be planned, but then they do not use birth control every time they have sex. When I lecture on college campuses, college students often tell me that they take the risk of having unprotected sex, and I implore them to never do that again. If sex education were required in high school, and then again in college, then perhaps we’d launch a new generation of sexually educated twentysomethings. Until then, remind all of the people you know that if they do not want an accidental pregnancy, they must use birth control every time they have sex.

Bristol Palin, 18, decided to step into the spotlight this week with an interview by Greta Van Susteren on the Fox News Channel. Bristol claims that she wants to be an advocate for teen pregnancy prevention, saying, “I hope that people learn from my story and just, like, I don’t know, prevent teen pregnancy, I guess.”  She says that she thinks teens should wait ten years to get pregnant, because, “it’s so much easier if you’re married and if you have a house and a career and — it’s just so much easier.” She adds that teen pregnancy is not, “a situation that you want to strive for.” 

Bristol says that teen abstinence is “not realistic at all,” which shows progress in the political media discussions that began when her pro-abstinence mother, Gov. Sarah Palin, confirmed then-17 year old Bristol’s pregnancy last year. However, in the Fox News interview, when asked about her views about birth control Bristol declined to comment. She seems to want to be an advocate for teens avoiding pregnancy without explaining how they can do this. She also perpetuated the myth that teens today are more interested in having pre-marital sex than teens in previous generations. In fact, according to sex research for at least four decades about 95% of Americans have been having premarital sex.

Perhaps Van Susteren made Bristol defensive by asking her a personal question about why or if she did not use contraception (which she declined to answer). But, despite that, when asked how she could change the fact that teens have sex and may get pregnant, all Bristol could muster was a statement that she as a teen mom can scare teens into not having sex. No mention of the need for teens to use birth control or more effective sexual decision making methods, or for them to have comprehensive sex ed or better communication with their parents, or any other factors that truly could help teens avoid pregnancy.  

I certainly hope that Bristol does not try to speak to teens about pregnancy prevention until she learns how to discuss the use of birth control and condoms. Teens may be positively influenced by hearing about the profound challenges of teen parenthood from a teen mother. However, only telling teens how tough it is to be a teen mom won’t keep teen sperm from uniting with teen eggs.

As I promised to Sirius/XM Covino and Rich listeners today…

Here’s a link with birth control info.

Also, here’s the info about Durex Sensi Thin and Durex Extra Sensitive condoms, which are thinner than most condoms.

Finally, here’s a link to my advice page where I answer the question: Can a woman get pregnant if you use a condom?