Teenage girls should be offered implants or IUDs as birth control

Doctors should be recommending IUDs or hormonal implants as birth control to teenage girls, the nation’s leading gynecologists group said Thursday.

Though sexually-active teens may prefer the pill, the patch or even wishful thinking, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said that IUDs and implants are more long-lasting and effective alternatives that users don’t have to remember to use every time.

The IUD and implants are safe and nearly 100per cent effective at preventing pregnancy, and should be ‘first-line recommendations’, read the organisation’s updated guidance for teenagers.

Both types of contraception are more invasive than the pill, requiring a doctor to put them in place. That, and cost, are probably why the pill is still the most popular form of contraception in the U.S.

But birth control pills often must be taken at the very same time every day to be most potent. And forgetting to take even one can lead to pregnancy, which is why the pill is sometimes only 91per cent effective.

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