Teenage girls should be prescribed emergency contraception in advance, because it has been shown that they are more likely to use it promptly when needed, the American Academy of Pediatrics announced in Pediatrics online on November, 26th, 2012.

Even though the number of teenage pregnancies has dropped in the USA over the last few decades, the country still has significantly higher teen birth rates than other industrialized nations, the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) informed.

Federal policy bans the OTC (over the counter) sales of emergency contraception to females aged under 17 years of age. The AAP believes that if young teenagers had emergency contraception on hand – with advance prescriptions – their chances of becoming pregnant unintentionally would be reduced.

In February 2012, the Guttmacher Institute published a report informing that in 2008, teenage pregnancies in the USA reached their lowest levels in nearly four decades. Pregnancy rates among adolescents peaked in the early 1990s, and then fell dramatically, as did birth and abortion rates in this age group.

In this latest report, the AAP discusses how emergency contraception can lower the risk of pregnancy in teenage girls.

Many adolescents in the United States still continue to have unprotected sex. According to the AAP, up to 10% of girls are victims of sexual assault.

Barrier and other forms of contraceptives do not always work:

Condoms may be faulty

Condoms may slip

Contraceptive doses may be missed

Contraceptive doses may be taken late

Such emergency contraception regimens as Next, Choice, Plan B and some others are the only methods of contraception to prevent unwanted pregnancies if used within 120 hours of having either unprotected or under-protected sex.

The AAP says pediatricians may play a crucial role in counseling teenage girls, and providing them with emergency contraception when in need.

The AAP emphasizes that emergency contraception plays no role in protecting against STIs (sexually transmitted diseases). Doctors should discuss the importance of STI testing with their patients, and when needed, what treatments are recommended.

Pediatricians should also advocate for better insurance coverage, as well as better access to emergency contraception for adolescents, regardless of how young they are.

In August 2010, the AAP wrote that America had the highest pregnancy rate among teenagers in the Western Hemisphere. 25% of US teens had an STI. The authors of a report “Sexuality, Contraception, and the Media”, which was published in Pediatrics, said that we should be paying careful attention to media messages regarding contraception and sexuality. Teenagers like certain websites and TV shows – the way they portray sex might have a major impact on how young people initiate sexual intercourse, the authors added.

Unlike most other industrialized nations, emergency contraception has been a controversial subject in the USA for many years.

Written by Christian Nordqvist