There were 305,388 babies born to U.S. mothers ages 15–19 in 2012, and according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC,) ironically enough, this rate has continually declined in recent years. The trend could be the result of MTV’s “Teen Mom,” or “Mean Girls’” Regina’s mother (Amy Pohler,) style parenting regarding sex; “Can I get you guys anything? Some snacks? A condom?”

Contraceptive methods, such as condoms or birth control pills have long been frowned upon by the Catholic church. I would like to note that prevention is not abortion and that while sex outside of marriage is Christianly unacceptable, people do it anyway.

So what? People have always had — and will always have — sex. The teen pregnancy rates are the lowest in the U.S. since World War II; this is not a new problem. Behind closed doors or not, it happens, and declining birth rates show that maybe talking about these issues openly will help.
Some of my peers believe that teen/young adult mothers are equally fit as adult mothers, and teen pregnancy is not a problem. I cannot agree, while the CDC mentions that “in 2008, teen pregnancy and childbirth accounted for nearly $11 billion per year in costs to U.S. taxpayers for increased health care and foster care, increased incarceration rates among children of teen parents, and lost tax revenue because of lower educational attainment and income among teen mothers.”

Contraception is crucial to prevent an unplanned pregnancy, but I do not think condoms alone are enough. A condom can “fall off,” break or someone could have poked a hole in it.

I think condoms should be used, but in addition to other methods.

Behold birth control pills, a sexually active woman’s best companion. Though there are various other methods, a Huffington Post article reported a recent birth control study found that the pill is the most common form of contraception. The hardest part about this method is remembering to take the medicine. According to Planned Parenthood, yearly, fewer than one out of every 100 women will get pregnant if they take the pill as directed, which is at the same exact time daily.

With that said, I think it is not unrealistic to expect men to take a birth control pill. A woman should not need to take full responsibility for a baby that takes two to create, especially when she has to solely endure the nine-month pregnancy, labor pain and liability of a child.

Male birth control pills are on the way, possibly in as soon as 10 years, according to a New York Daily News article from 2013. Ten long years.

In the meantime, ladies take your B.C. pills, and men, wrap it up until you are financially stable and mature enough to have a little you running around this earth. It might take extra effort to prevent a baby, but the time spent taking a pill each day or using a condom during sex is a less extreme and time consuming endeavor than raising a child into adulthood.

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