This is interesting, but plan B has appeared by the FDA with no age restrictions or prescription in 2013 and the effects they analyse are from 2009-2010. The demand for it might be well driven by partly by "16 and pregnant".

Now if only MTV could make a show "16 with an STD", American teens might start using condoms as much as European kids.

I think "You Can't Pray the Baby Away" would be a more suitable title, considering the prevalence of the abstinence movement and their goals.

I weep for the children who gain such a burden so early in their lives.

I'm more concerned for the baby's prospects than the teens'. (Baby is utterly innocent.) The teen situation is also unfortunate, but was also of their own doing in almost every case.

Being misinformed due to the 'abstinence only' sex-ed. I wouldn't blame it on the teen, but on the education system, or the teen's parents who can't be bothered to teach birds and bees.

Misinformed how? It's not as if abstinence-only education claims babies come by stork.

It often claims things like condoms being ineffective against STDs or all sorts of birth control having far greater failure rates than in reality.

I was also taught: never carry a condom, because then you might be tempted to have sex. Instead of understanding that it's going to happen anyway, they teach that it shouldn't happen, so don't prepare for it.

Misinformed because they don't inform the kids about birth control. It's a sin of omission

Teens being denied access to proper and accurate sex education isn't their own doing.

I have significant shared frustration with that situation, but feel that even in those cases, the teens bear a non-zero amount of responsibility, which is larger than the baby.

Most teens can read and most have access to google.

>Most teens can read and most have access to google.

I can read and I have access to google, and for some reason I'm not a rocket scientist or a nuclear physicist. There is a reason that in most cases we don't consider (at least below 18) teens adults. They make bad decisions. We also know from study that teens make a higher number of bad decisions when the adults and culture around them feed them bad information.

Google is almost useless for things like this, your family and culture affect you far more.

I would caution this thinking. Plan B pills are very expensive- $50 at your local Walgreens. Teenage pregnancies are highest in areas with high income inequality. Most of these families are living paycheck to paycheck, and the kids have no money. They cannot simply walk into a store and plop $50 on the counter after every time they have had unprotected sex.

Unfortunately it isn't widely known that Plan B can be gotten at Planned Parenthood for cheap to free. When I was poor and 50 dollars would break the bank I went to Planned Parenthood hoping they'd have better prices than the pharmacy. I nearly fainted (in a good way) when they gave it to me free, no questions asked. I couldn't have been more thankful.

To be honest I think the pharmacy prices are a sham. Extremely disappointing from a public health perspective.

Not "every time", because I'd say this is the kind of thing that is supposed to happen just once... or twice.

We all have been horny after all, but having unprotected sex just because of it means you have another problem I'd say 8-)