Response to J-J's post on Teenage Pregnancy

J-J's post:

"Teenage pregnancy is related to girls aged 13 to 19 who have had unprotected sex and become pregnant. This could be due to a lack of knowledge in contraception (i.e. not being able to access them) and/or due to adolescent sexual behaviour (i.e. being promiscuous).

But does this mean that girls, who become pregnant as a result of their naivety by not using protection when engaging in sexual intercourse are being bad?"

I'm pretty sure that most 13 year olds know that unprotected sex can lead to pregnancy, and that this can be stopped by the use of contraception. If not, then we really do have a problem.

If a teenager does not have any readily available to them, my advice would be not to have sex at all, until you can at least get hold of a condom. If a teenager wants to have sex, thats up to them. But really, there isn't an excuse not to use contraception.

I understand that not all teenage pregnancies are due to naivety and stupid behaviour. Some are planned. If thats what the parents really want, and believe they are emotionally and financially ready to have a baby, then thats fine.

However, there are some cases in which the parents have used contraception, but still get pregnant. After all, no contraceptive is 100% effective. I think if this is a reason for a teenage pregnancy, then it just can't be helped.

J-J's post on Teenage Pregnancy is here.