Study: More teenage girls using the rhythm method

WASHINGTON (RNS) A new government health survey found that more teenage girls are using the calendar-based “rhythm method” of birth control while having sex. The rhythm method involves avoiding sex on the more fertile days of the ovulation cycle — a practice sometimes dubbed periodic abstinence. The report from the Centers for Disease Control and […]

WASHINGTON (RNS) A new government health survey found that more teenage girls are using the calendar-based “rhythm method” of birth control while having sex.

The rhythm method involves avoiding sex on the more fertile days of the ovulation cycle — a practice sometimes dubbed periodic abstinence.

The report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 17 percent of teenage girls said they had used the rhythm method in 2006-2008, up from 11 percent reported in a 2002 survey.


Condoms, withdrawal and birth control pills surpassed the rhythm method in popular contraception practices, with 79 percent of teens saying they used protection during their first encounter.

The figure raised concerns with some teen pregnancy experts.

“Periodic abstinence is like being a little bit pregnant,” said Elizabeth Schroeder, executive director of Answer, a national sexuality education organization at Rutgers University.

She said that while the rhythm method could be effective when used in conjunction with other practices, routine use did not successfully prevent pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases.

Attitudes toward teenage pregnancy have also changed, according to the CDC report. Fewer teenage boys (12 percent) reported not having sex to avoid pregnancy, down from 25 percent in 2002, and nearly two-thirds (64 percent) said that it was OK for an unmarried female to have a baby, up from 50 percent in 2002.

Teenagers in the survey who had abstained from sex cited “against religion and morals” as their most common reason — the same as the 2002 survey response.

Schroeder said the survey made a case for comprehensive sex education, since abstinence-only education favored by many religious groups does not adequately discuss protection methods, or address the needs of teenage girls in relationships.


“If there’s a choice between having unprotected risky sex or losing their boyfriend, they chose having unprotected risky sex,” she said.

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