Sex: Everyone's Doin' It...Not!

During the 1990's, there was an 11% drop in the number of teens who have had sex. 52% of teens report being virgins. By the time they turn 20, 20% of boys and 24% of girls have not yet had sexual intercourse. While 93% of teen women report that their first intercourse was voluntary, one-fourth of these young women report that it was unwanted. The younger women are when they lose their virginity, the more likely they are to have had unwanted or nonvoluntary sex. Source: Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1999 Each year, approximately 4 million teens in the U.S. get infected with a sexually transmitted disease. The U.S. has the highest rate of teen pregnancy, teen birth, and teen abortion of any industrialized nation. 4 out of 10 girls in the U.S. get pregnant at least once by the age of 20. More than a million American teenagers-- that's one in four girls under 18-- get pregnant each year. 1,300 babies are born to teen mothers every day in the U.S. A sexually active teen who does not use contraceptives has a 90% chance of getting pregnant within one year. Source: Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1999 In a single act of unprotected sex with an infected partner, a teen woman has a 30% chance of contracting genital herpes and a 50% chance of getting gonorrhea. Source: Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1999 In some areas, 10% to 29% of sexually active girls and 10% of sexually active guys tested for STD's have been found to have chlamydia. Source: Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1999 79% of sexually experienced teens report that they used a condom the last time they had intercourse, and 57% report that they use a condom every time. Source: Survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, MTV, and Teen People 1 out of every 2 teens say that pressure from their partner is one of the main reasons they don't use contraception; the same number say that drinking and drugs are the main reasons why they don't use birth control. More than 75% of teen girls responding to a survey by Seventeen and the Ms. Foundation said they agreed to have sex because of pressure from boys; 91% said they wished they had waited. Teens who use alcohol are 7 times more likely to have had sex than those who don't; teens who use drugs are 5 times more likely to have sex than those who don't. 36% of teens who have had sex say they've never talked with a partner about birth control; 40% have never talked with a partner about preventing STD's. 20% of teens who did talk about birth control and/or STD's with their partner had the conversation after sex.