Teenagers and the morning-after pill

When a teenager goes in for a check-up, the paediatrician often ask the parents to step outside so that the doctors can talk to the youngster one-on-one about sensitive topics, like whether she is using drugs or she is sexually active.

Now doctors are being encouraged to talk to teenagers about the morning after-pill and to send girls home with prescriptions for emergency contraception, just in case.

Several Medical societies, including those representing gynaecologists and paediatricians, favour making emergency contraceptives available over the counter, since the drugs are supposed to be taken within 5 days of unprotected sex in order to be effective.

In 2006, Levonorgestrel was made available over the counter for women age 18 and older. In 2009, after a legal fight, the age was lowered to 17.

The academy`s policy revision was prompted in part by new research showing that young women provided with advance prescriptions for the morning-after pill were more likely to use the drugs after unprotected sex than those without a prescription, and were more likely to use it in a timely manner.

Not enough people know about emergency contraception, not even 30-and-40-year old woman. A recent findings show that college students, for example, found that only 16% knew that emergency contraception was made available at health centres.

The average age of youth been initiated is 17; at age 19, about 70% of teenagers are sexually active. 

Still though teenage child-bearing rates have dropped sharply in the last previous years, the teenage birth-rate in America is one of the highest in the developed world, according to the centre for disease control and prevention.

Many teenagers uses condom for birth control, but while they also protect against sexually transmitted diseases, they may break or slip.

Teenagers may forget a birth control pill on occasion, and a significant number of young girls are sexually assaulted.

Emergency contraceptives prevent fertilization of an egg by delaying or inhibiting ovulation and thickening cervical mucus, obstructing the progress of sperm. 

Though some critics have suggested these are abortion pills, infact they are distinct drugs with different modes of action.