Contraception, sexual health and teens

The American Academy of Pediatrics came out with a recommendation recently to increase teen access to emergency contraception. In a new policy report, the organization advised pediatricians to not only openly discuss contraception with their female patients but to give advanced prescriptions for the morning-after pill. Currently Plan B is only available to adolescents under 17 with a prescription.  In recent years, teen pregnancy has been declining but 80 percent of teen pregnancies are unintended, so could this new policy help reduce adolescent pregnancies even more?  This hour, we’ll discuss the new recommendations, contraception use among teens and other issues around their sexual health.  Our guests are ANNE TEITELMAN, an Associate Professor of Nursing at University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, and COURTNEY SCHREIBER, an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Photo by Flickr user Jess Hamilton