Contraceptive use among female adolescents

Teenage pregnancy continues to be a problem in the United States despite the availability of reliable contraceptive methods. A pilot study was conducted to determine the use of reliable contraception by teenagers following an abortion or negative pregnancy test. The results indicated that 96.6% of the teenagers experiencing a therapeutic abortion and 49.6% of the teens having a negative pregnancy test reported choosing reliable contraception after the procedure or the test. At a subsequent clinic visit, however, only 27.5% in the abortion group and 5.7% in the negative pregnancy test group reported use of reliable contraception. Further research is needed to identify factors involved in teenagers' use or nonuse of contraception.