april 27, 2006 forgot your password? new member? contribute to SEX, ETC. username password   home · glossary · take action · stories · ask the experts · boards · help now!

Got a sexual health question? Ask the experts in our live chat on May 1st, at 8 pm. Write for us! Do you fancy yourself the best teen writer around, or are you just an opinionated teen with a whole lot to say about teen sexual health issues today? Write for us!     What are your state's laws? Click on the map to find out! girls' health guys' health sex love & relationships glbtq deciding about sex birth control & condoms sexually transmitted infections pregnancy...am I/is she? teen parenting abortion adoption emotional health abuse & violence body image alcohol & drugs   Check out interactive color diagrams of female and male anatomy from teenwire.com! Diagramas en Español   Network for Family Life Education about SEX, ETC. about NFLE contact us parents & professionals   The Battle for Access to EC The condom breaks. What happens next is part of a political battle in the U.S. over teen girls' access to emergency contraception. Right now, teen girls in over 30 other countries, including France, Germany and Italy, can go to their local pharmacy after a condom breaks and ask for emergency contraception, also known EC or the morning-after pill. But in all but five states in the U.S., a teen girl has to make an appointment with her doctor, get a prescription for EC, and then run to the pharmacy to get it. Each day that passes makes EC less effective, since it must be taken within five days of unprotected sex to work. And it is most effective if taken within three days. Why can't teen girls in all 50 states just go right to the pharmacy like teens in other countries? In other words, why won't the U.S. Food and Drug Administration make EC available without a prescription across the country? Maybe access to EC is restricted here because it isn’t safe? Actually, EC has been rigorously tested and found to be safe. It prevents a pregnancy up to 89 percent of the time by delaying ovulation. Maybe EC causes an abortion if the teen girl is already pregnant? Nope. Recent studies have shown that EC works by delaying ovulation and preventing a pregnancy from ever forming, and has no effect on an already established pregnancy. In fact, its use can reduce the chances that a girl would need to even consider abortion. With so much research showing the effectiveness and safety of EC, why in the world are some people lobbying to keep it a doctor's visit and prescription away? Take a deep breath. Those that are against making EC available over-the-counter believe that it will make teens have more unprotected sex. Not true. But before you shake your head and start looking at universities in Canada, you may want to take a moment to make the great U.S. of A. a better place. Advocates for Youth is building a campaign of young people who are willing to fight for their rights to over-the-counter access to EC. They are building momentum and your generation will make the difference. So, a condom breaks. Are you willing to become part of the political battle for your health and well-being? Click here.

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