Youth Say Pregnancies Are Best Planned, But Half Have Unprotected Sex

A recent study of 18- to 29-year-olds by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy shows they believe that pregnancies are best planned.

Let me pause for a moment to absorb that tidbit of wisdom. I love studies that reveal that people have common sense. I knew that myself before accidentally becoming a young mother. Most things are best planned out. Oops.

But plans be damned.

Young people have sex (as do a lot of people, actually).

Not all of them are fully aware of all the ways in which to protect themselves during sex. *coughs*

A good percentage of these young adults also admit that they would probably engage in unprotected sex. That is some kind of "one plus blue equals chair" logic to me. You can't rely on unprotected sex to avoid pregnancy.

This ideology is hardly surprising, given the abstinence-only education that plagues our public schools. According to Laura Lindberg, senior research associate at the nonprofit Guttmacher Institute, these programs have gone out of their way to misconstrue facts on birth control, or to discourage young people from using it altogether. This translates into young adults making poor choices regarding birth control in later years. People will inevitably rely on what they know rather than admit they don't know something as potentially embarrassing as how to properly use birth control. Ab-only education and its supporters stigmatize asking questions about sex, and many young adults let that shame stop them from talking about protection.

Say it with me: This puts people at risk.

With a lack of proper comprehensive sexual education, young adults rely on myths when making birth control decisions. Some believe that using two condoms will provide "double protection," when this is actually a common way to cause breakage (that's bad). Others have been fed lies about inflated risks of cancer from hormonal birth control. Or, they are told that their birth control or IUD cause abortions (here's a fun fact: an estimated 25-50% of pregnancies spontaneously abort of their own natural accord. A woman may never know she was pregnant).

Getting factual information in the hands of young adults is vital given this chasm of misunderstanding rampant among people wanting to put pregnancy off (and prevent STDs/STIs). Thankfully there are good online sources out there, like Scarleteen, whom I have mentioned before. They have great resources, like Birth Control Bingo, to help you find the right method for you and your partner, and give you all the facts on how to use it. If we are going to let fundies put stop-gaps in the logic of the average young person, at least we can try to direct them to good resources where they can fill in the holes.

Photo: soundlessfall on Flickr