More doctors are recommending that teenage girls use IUDs or hormonal implants. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) there are benefits to teens using these types of birth control. They are long-lasting and more effective because you don’t have to remember a pill every day. ACOG says IUDs and implants are safe and almost 100 percent effective, compared to about 91 percent effecacy for birth control pills.
However, the pills are less expensive than IUDs or implants. Previous guidelines only advised women in a monogamous relationship get IUDs. The new guidelines don’t tell teens not to use other methods, but “if your goal is to prevent a pregnancy, then using an implant or an IUD would be the best way to do this,” said Dr. Tina Raine-Bennett, head of the committee that wrote the recommendations. They made it clear that condoms should always be used because they protect against AIDS and STDs.
While some people are skeptical about teens using IUDs, they are safe. “The ones on the market today are extremely safe,” said Dr. Mary Fournier, an adolescent-medicine specialist at Chicago’s Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital, who praised the new recommendations. “That is what everybody should be telling their patients.”
Do you think sexually active teens should be encouraged to use longterm birth control?
