According to the study, fewer than half of boys—47 percent—between the ages of 15 and 19 said they had sex at least once. While that seem high to us, that’s actually down from the 60 percent of similarly aged boys who in 1988 reported having sex. The rates are somewhat lower for girls: 44 percent say they’ve been intimate with someone, down from the 51 percent who said so in 1988. However, the CDC also reports there were still more than 273,000 live births in the United States to teens in 2013, and at a higher per-capita rate than what is found in other first-world nations.
The same study found the number of sexually active teens using the controversial morning-after pill has risen dramatically during the past 10 years. More than one in five teens who’ve had sex also have used the pill—a drug that keeps an egg from being fertilized if taken shortly after sex. Just a decade ago, the rate was one in 12.
Experts suggest the popularity of the pill can be explained by many teens’ thoughtlessness when it comes to birth control. “In the battle between sex and sex with contraception, sex often wins,” says Bill Albert, chief program officer for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. (The Verge, USA Today)