HEALTH EDUCATION

Birth control for teens

Having sex is about making choices.

• We choose when we are ready and when we want to wait.

• We choose our partners.

• We choose what we want to do and what we don’t want to do with our partners.

• We can choose to do it in the safest way.

Teens who have vaginal intercourse need to make choices about birth control. One of the great joys of life can be having a baby — when we are ready and are able to provide all the love and care a child needs.

One of the great setbacks in life can be an unintended pregnancy — especially for a young woman.

Planned Parenthood believes that sexual experience can be a positive source of personal enrichment and satisfaction when it is based on informed choices and mature decisions — whether for pleasure or procreation.

Sex partners should:

• Have one another’s consent.

• Be honest with one another.

• Treat one another as equals.

• Be attentive to one another’s pleasure.

• Protect one another against physical and emotional harm, unintended pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infection.

• Accept responsibility for their actions.

• Be clear with regard to their own limits about what they want to do and what they don’t want to do.

• Respect the limits of others.

• Never use pressure to get someone to consent to sexual activity.

• Have access to safe and effective means to prevent unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection.

Birth control methods

If you decide to be sexually active and are not ready to become pregnant, some form of birth control is a necessity. 85% of women who have vaginal sex without birth control get pregnant every year.

There are a lot of choices when it comes to birth control. To decide which method is right for your body and your lifestyle now, click on any of the links below.

Continuous abstinence

Outercourse

Withdrawal

The condom

The female condom

Spermicide

The sponge

Diaphragms, caps, & shields

The pill

The patch (Ortho Evra®)

The ring (NuvaRing®)

Combination - the Pill, the Patch, and the Ring

The shot (DMPA)

Implants

Emergency contraception

IUDs — intrauterine devices

Future birth control methods for men

Tubal sterilization (women)

Vasectomy (men)

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