40% of Teens have had Sex

Amid the percentages regarding teenagers and sex, there’s good news, “sort of” good news, and not-so-good-news.  Let’s start with the good news:  although 40% of teenagers aged 15-19 have had sex, this percentage has not risen, but has remained stable since 2002. 

The “sort of” good news is that 79% of girls and 87% of boys say they use some sort of birth control.  What makes this news only “sort of” good is that behind condoms, the most common method of choice among this age group is withdrawal.  And, do you know what you call people who rely on withdrawal as a form of birth control?  Yes, that’s right, PARENTS.

Which leads us to the not-so-good news:  one out of four boys and one out of five girls say they would be “pleased” if they or their partner became pregnant.  Of this surprising finding Bill Albert, the chief program  officer at the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, tells U.S. News and World Report,  “This is really quite alarming.  I don’t think it takes a Ph.D. to understand that in this day and age and in this economy the route to success doesn’t begin with a family at age 16.”

“Patty”, the mother of a pregnant 16 year old girl in Arkansas says she was absolutely stunned when her daughter was “elated” over the fact that she’d gotten pregnant.  “She won’t even consider placing the baby for adoption,” she said.

One expert, according to WebMd, maintains that we need to become more adept at giving teens the message that becoming pregnant is really not a viable option.  For all of our progress when it comes to sex education, we still have some work to do.