Greetings Choice Readers! Today is the National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. As you may already know, the only 100% way to prevent pregnancy is through abstinence. However, there are ways to reduce the risk of an unplanned pregnancy and the best first choice for teens is proper condom use with Emergency Contraception as a back up method. These methods are not always accessible to teens though. What can we do as adults to make these options easier for teens to obtain? They can become advocate for any (or all) of the following 5 suggestions. 1. Make comprehensive sexuality education in schools mandatory. Research has shown that Abstinence-only education programs are not effective. They do not provide students with a plan in case they do decide to engage in sexual activity. A good sexuality education program should be engaging, interactive, and age-appropriate. It would also include topics on goal-setting, self-esteem, healthy relationships, puberty and reproductive anatomy, decision making, abstinence, STIs, birth control, and proper condom use.
2. Parents should have open and honest conversations about sexuality with their child throughout his or her childhood--not just "the talk." This builds trust and comfort for both the child and parent(s) in discussing sexuality. There are also books such as The Bare Naked Truth by Kathy Stinson, It's So Amazing, It's Perfectly Normal, The Period Book, What's Going On Down There? that would be terrific ways to supplement conversations. Frequent, smaller talks will make the safe sex & condom talk less awkward when the child is a teenager.
3. High Schools (and some middle schools, depending on the district's rate of teen pregnancy) should make condoms accessible through the school nurse. This also includes having a nurse who is sex positive, not one who is judgmental. Many adults think this may mean that schools are condoning sex. I disagree, especially because at some schools teens can take pregnancy tests. Having condoms available will reduce the risk of the need for pregnancy tests. This is a no-brainer.4. Pharmacies, supermarkets, and convenient stores should not have condoms locked in a cabinet or behind the counter. Do they really think teens are going to steal them? Or are they just trying to make an awkward purchase even more awkward? Perhaps the moralistic manager will simply decide a teen is too young to use condoms. This is not okay! Customers don't need to be of a certain age to buy condoms.
5. There should not be an age limit for obtaining Emergency Contraception (EC) over the counter. EC is a last resort in preventing pregnancy. Mistakes happen, otherwise it wouldn't also be called Plan B. There is no reason why a teen shouldn't be able to get this back-up method of birth control over the counter, just like everyone else over the age of 17.
