Kaiser Daily Women’s Health Policy
August 30, 2007
Teenagers in New York City are less likely to use birth control than teens nationwide, although they are about as likely as teens nationwide to be sexually active, according to a report released Wednesday by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports.
For the report, the health department compared a 2005 survey of teens in grades 9 through 12 conducted by health and education officials in New York City with a similar CDC survey. According to the report, 8% of sexually active teens reported that they or their partners used birth control pills, compared with 18% nationwide. About one in five sexually active girls in New York City said they did not use any form of birth control the most recent time they had sex, compared with one in seven nationwide.
Girls in New York City’s low-income, predominately Hispanic South Bronx neighborhood were almost twice as likely to have unprotected sex as girls nationwide. Black girls in the city were about as likely to use birth control as girls nationwide (AP/Long Island Newsday, 8/29).
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The report also found that 69% of teens in the city use condoms, compared with 63% nationwide. About 19% of New York City teens said they did not used condoms or any form of birth control. About 16% of sexually active teens in the city said they or their partners had become pregnant, and the pregnancy rate was higher among teens who had sex before they were age 13, the New York Post reports (Haberman, New York Post, 8/30).
The report recommended that health care workers obtain sexual histories of teen patients and offer teens reproductive and sexual health services. It also recommended that parents encourage teens to delay sexual activity and highlight the importance of using birth control and condoms if they are sexually active (New York City health department release, 8/29).
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