How come even though Charlotte is the pregnant one, Savannah’s the one who’s taking on all the responsibility? All season long, Charlotte has been letting Savannah take the lead – on telling their mom about her pregnancy, making sure she has the right books and stops eating junk food, and on and on. Charlotte confided in Savannah about her pregnancy when nobody else knew about it because she trusted her, and she needed her. Charlotte never meant to get pregnant, and she hasn’t quite caught up to the fact that she is going to be a parent soon. When is she going to start taking charge, for herself and her baby? That’s the one thing Savannah can’t do for her.
When it comes to sex, it’s understandable that sometimes things just happen, and it’s easy to get carried away….and then someone winds up pregnant. That’s how most pregnancies happen among teens and young adults. In fact, among single 20-somethings, 7 in 10 pregnancies are unplanned. And most of the 750,000 teens who get pregnant every year never thought it would happen to them. What gives? Why is it that it’s so much harder to plan when it comes to sex and pregnancy (or rather, not getting pregnant) than it is to plan for other things? Like what it’s going to take to get into the Hellcats, or how hard you have to practice to go to Nationals, or how to hide your pregnancy from your mom…
Maybe because talking about protection, or getting it ahead of time feels so unromantic. Or like you are “planning” for sex. But the thing is, if you’re having sex, unless you’re planning NOT to get pregnant, you probably will. It’s a fact: if you’re having sex on a regular basis and not using protection, you have an 85% chance of pregnancy in a year. The good news is that unplanned pregnancy is actually 100% preventable. It’s pretty simple: you either don’t have sex at all, or if you do, you use protection every single time. Just thinking – or hoping – ‘it won’t happen to me’ doesn’t count as protection.
Today – May 4 – is the National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. And May is Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month. Did you know that 2 out of 3 teen pregnancies happen to 18-19 year-olds? So whether you’re in high school, college or somewhere in between, stop and think today about what you would do in the heat of the moment. Take an interactive quiz at www.stayteen.org to figure out what you’d do in a risky situation. Get your friends to take it. If you don’t like your score, take it again. Unlike Charlotte, you can go back and do it over again til you get it right.