Are younger teen girls more sexually active than they used to be?
While teen sexual activity is down among most teens, it has risen among girls younger than 15. In 1995 (the most recent year for which data is available) almost 1/5 (19%) of teen girls reported they had sex before age 15. The younger teen girls are when they first have sex, the more likely they are to report that sex was unwanted or non-voluntary. Can you get pregnant if you use birth control? Yes. Even if used perfectly, all methods of birth control have a failure rate, ranging from 0.05% for Norplant to 9% for the sponge and calendar rhythm. The only way to ensure you won’t get pregnant or get someone pregnant is to not have sex. You can’t get pregnant the first time, right? Wrong. Teen girls can get pregnant the very first time they have sex, and every time after that. A couple that doesn’t use birth control has an 85% chance of pregnancy within one year. What happens to teen mothers? Only 41% of teen mothers complete high school and only 1.5% obtain their college degree by the age
