Many Teens Unaware That Unprotected Sex Leads to Pregnancy

A recent survey carried out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that more than a third of teenage mothers who did not use protection when having sex admitted that they had no idea they could get pregnant.

The survey polled more than 5,000 teenage girls in 19 states who gave birth due to unplanned pregnancies between 2004 and 2008. The researchers found that over half of the girls did not use any protection the last time they had sex.

While the researchers from CDC did not ask the reason for not using protection, other researchers did and revealed that the teen moms believed they couldn't get pregnant the first time they had sex, didn't think they could get pregnant at that time of the month or thought they were sterile.

The researchers also found that over a quarter of teen moms admitted not using any protection because their partner did not want to use one while over 13 percent said that they had trouble getting any contraception.

"These findings have several implications. First, rates of contraceptive use among sexually active teens might be improved by providing appropriate access to contraception, encouraging consistent use of more effective contraceptives, promoting condom use for protection against sexually transmitted infections including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and increasing teens' motivation to use contraception consistently", the researchers wrote in their report.



Source: Medindia