Family Planning Plus

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/health/research/09puberty.html?_r=2&hpw

Since moving to this area from New York City a little more than a year ago, I have been astounded by the number of unintended pregnancies I have seen in my patients under 16 years of age.

Perhaps this shouldn’t be so surprising considering the most recent data out of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicating that births to teen girls ages 15 to 19 years increased by 3 percent. This is the first increase noted after the previous 14 years of decline.

Even more astonishing is the general lack of knowledge about sexuality and reproductive health I have encountered in my patients. CDC also has released new data in the last year about the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections among adolescents, especially adolescent girls.

It is now estimated that one in four girls ages 14 to 19 years has at least one STI. These recent findings highlight concerns about abstinence-only education programs and really demand a minimum standard for comprehensive sex education in our schools, as current legislation proposes.

I do not deny that abstinence is a healthy choice for…

http://www.lebanonfamilyhealth.org/

http://susquehannahealth.org/FamilyCenterForReproductiveHealth/FamilyPlanningServices.asp

http://www.union-snydercaa.org/