How to stop teen pregnancy?

[The-Prophet]

nope really its upto the parents to guide them before it is an issue. All schools can do is stop drug dealers from selling at school and make contreceptives more available

[Missy900]

Why do you think it is that British teenagers are seemingly so much worse than say, teenagers in Europe? Why is it that our country has higher rates of teenage pregnancy, single mothers, STDs etc than not just the developed world, but most countries in general? Obviously other countries have come up with solutions that work for them but it seems like in Britain the government blames the parents, the parents blame the government, society blames the teenagers, the quangos that deal with pregnant teenagers blame society. Everybody spends so much time blaming everybody else that no one is coming up with a strategy that actually works.

I think part of the problem is there are so many factors that contribute to teenage pregnancy that it's not always easy to pinpoint one single factor to focus on it to create a solution. It seems like something should be done but it's a question of what to do and how to do it. I'm not sure if you're aware on the 1980s AIDS campaign but that shocked a lot of people and subsequently the levels of people infected with AIDS and STDs decreased quite dramatically. Do you think something like this, for instance a shock campaign would work on today's teenagers?

[Missy900]

i had been on the pill since i was 15 and bought my own condoms from the age of 14!

Can I just ask, if you don't mind, what lead you to go on the pill and buy condoms at 14? Apart from the obvious factor of having sex, what made you decide to use contraception? It seems like a silly question but after reading some statistics, it seems a lot of teenagers-especially younger ones, aren't using contraception when they have sex. I've also read that a lot of teenagers don't know how to use contraception properly, for example knowing when to take the pill or how to put on a condom. Do you think that your decision to use contraception was based on a fear of getting pregnant or catching an STD or was it something else?

[mattie]

now thats a difficult one! i have to say that the decision to use contraception had nothing to do with my parents or school at all-both had a very "british" attitude towards sex-which by the way,i think is britains problem when discussing teen pregnancy.
when i was younger,say 11ish,most of my friends were sort of 13/14 years old and were always talking about boyfriends and things,so i wasnt shy about sex,and when i moved to secondary school,i was sort of the one girls asked when they needed advice. my decision to firstly sleep with my boyfriend was one made by both of us. we had been together for 3 months and discussed sex. we agreed that we wanted to sleep together and most importantly loved eachother. i had never seen a condom before,but i noticed that in every sex story in cosmopolitain,they had the line "he slipped on a condom". i later went on the internet and found a website on contraception which told me about everything from condoms to the coil. i went out and bought condoms,fully confident and not ashamed,then decided that to fully ensure i avoided pregnancy i took myself off to the doctors to go on the pill,and have never looked back.
i was the first of my friends to do this,and so throughout school,i went with people when they decided to go on the pill,and bought condoms for girls too shy to buy their own. you always find one girl who is and "expert" on sex,and i was just lucky that i had access to information on contraception.
somebody made the point earlier that said "how can we make kids think twice",i dont think that this is what we should be doing at all! kids are much more comfortable with their sexuality these days,maybe even more so than you,and lets face it,when was the last time you thought "should i sleep with him,or wait until im sure i love him"?! kids will have sex no matter how much or little they think about it,we should just make sure that they have easy access to contraception and any other advice. but most importantly,we need to remove "embarassment" from sex,and be honest,its not the kids who are embarased by it,just look at how many are doing it! its the adults,with their unwillingness to accept it goes on!

[MissD]

What do you think that society should do to try to prevent such high rates of pregnancy amongst teenagers?

As someone said previously I think that we need better sex education in schools and parents need to also take responsibility for teaching their children about sex/contraception etc...

[fairytale05]

I think its kind of got to the point now where teenagers are in a bit of a situation of being 'stereotyped' if they were to go to a family planning clinic.
Britain needs to accept first of all that people are having sex at a younger age. If there wasn't such a prejudice or stereotype of young people who are having sex, and people began to socially accept that fact, more young people would go to clinics without feeling embarrassed or ashamed of themselves.

Example Me and my ex-boyfriend had a split condom problem. I went to the clinic first thing in the morning and got the morning after pill, and the nurse asked a series of questions as a routine check. However, some of the things she said implied that I was getting the morning after pill as a result of sleeping around. She suggested I got checked for STI's, despite the fact she didn't know my circumstances i.e. was I a virgin or my boyfriend a virgin. I felt embarrassed even though I knew I was with a regular partner who I was in love with. It seems that the media's portrayal of Britain's promiscuous society has created a stereotype of any teenager engaged in sex.

I also went to a Catholic school, though I'm not a strict religious Catholic myself. Although they could teach you the scientific side of sex, they refused to teach anything related to birth control or to give out condoms at school (though I believe they do in most schools) because it was against their religion. If all schools allowed free condoms, teenagers would not be in the position of feeling embarrassed to go to a clinic. A lot of teenagers do feel insecure during adolescence and as a result may not have the confidence to go and speak to a medical professional about protection.

However, I don't mean to defend teenagers completely. Whatever the age, if someone is in a sexual relation they should be independent and mature enough to sort out their own means of birth control. But in my opinion, the way society and the media portrays those teenagers who do have sex, it is no wonder that teenagers are afraid to admit that they are having sex to both parents and medical professionals, for fear of being judged. Perhaps our society needs to accept the fact that people are having sex at a younger age before we try to change the teenage pregnancy rate.

[lil legs]

wel in my college they offer free condoms to all students. I think that they teach us about sex wen alot of students ave already had it, if were taught at a younger age, like 12/13 mayb even younger alot of teenagers might have been more careful. Teenager aren't told the implications of having sex like the diseases we can catch. We no about them vagily but not much

[fairytale05]

I agree. The sex education we had at school at the ages of 12/13 were mainly focusing on girls starting their period, body changes etc - not sex itself. We then did a second stage of sex education in year 9, and a closer look at the risk of pregnancy in year 11. However, at least 2 of my friends had slept with their boyfriends by the age of 14/15. To be fair, they were responsible and took care of their own contraception - they had been with their boyfriends a year and two years respectively. But why wait to teach sex until practically the legal age? Yes the legal age is there for a reason, but like I said before, society needs to address the fact that teenagers are having sex younger and perhaps try to educate them about contraception from the minute they begin sex education.