teenage sex

Contraception and Pregnancy

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It’s important to be informed about sexual health issues, even if you’re not having sex right now, and if you are, then you need to arm yourself with some critical facts! Here you’ll find plenty of info on how to protect yourself from getting pregnant, what to do if you think you’re pregnant, what to do if you’ve had unprotected sex (or sex in which your method of birth control failed) in the last 72 hours, and where to go for help.

Birth Control Misinformation

There are a lot of myths and misinformation out there about protecting yourself from pregnancy.  If you are considering any of these, forget about it.  They DON'T work!

• Having intercourse during your period:
  First of all, just because you're bleeding doesn't mean you're having your "true" period; some women bleed during ovulation. And it's often hard to predict when you'll ovulate. So you'd better use protection whenever you have intercourse, all month long. (Sex during your period is also a riskier time for HIV transmission.)

• Peeing after intercourse:
  An old folks' tale! Urinating after sex does nothing to protect against pregnancy because women do not urinate out of their vaginal opening. So, although the urinary opening is near the vagina (just above it), urinating will not flush sperm out of the vaginal opening.

• Douching:
  Rather than rinsing sperm out of the vagina, douching could actually send them swimming upstream towards an egg. (It can also increase the risk of infection.) All in all, a bad idea!

So what does work to prevent pregnancy?

Last updated: 8/05

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