Go to Content Go to Navigation Go to Navigation Go to Site Search Homepage

Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month

How do you know when you're ready for sex?

Is this something I really want to do, or am I feeling pressured?

  • I’m the only virgin I know.
  • Sex will make me more popular.
  • My boyfriend/girlfriend will break up with me if I don’t have sex.

Will having sex affect my future goals?

Ask yourself how you would handle STD or pregnancy and how they might get in the way of school and other things in your life.

Do I want to have sex with this person?

Make sure you respect, trust, and care about each other. Neither of you should pressure the other to have sex. 

 

Can I be honest and clear about what I do and don't want to do?

If you’re not ready to talk openly with each other about sex, you’re not ready to have sex. 
 

Do I have protection to help avoid pregnancy and STDs?

Talk with a doctor or nurse about getting on birth control before you have sex. Planned Parenthood has doctors and nurses that can work with you to figure out the best method for you and has low-cost or free services for teens. Make sure you have condoms handy whenever you might have sex. Use birth control and condoms together to make sure you’re doubly protected.

Do I have support?

Talk it out with someone you trust — a parent, an aunt or uncle, a health care provider, or someone else who cares about you. They can help you figure out if it’s the best decision for you.

REMEMBER: It’s always okay to wait to have sex. When you decide you’re ready, Planned Parenthood can help with birth control and condoms.

Planned Parenthood cares about your data privacy. We and our third-party vendors use cookies and other tools to collect, store, monitor, and analyze information about your interaction with our site to improve performance, analyze your use of our sites and assist in our marketing efforts. You may opt out of the use of these cookies and other tools at any time by visiting Cookie Settings. By clicking “Allow All Cookies” you consent to our collection and use of such data, and our Terms of Use. For more information, see our Privacy Notice.

Cookie Settings

Planned Parenthood cares about your data privacy. We and our third-party vendors, use cookies, pixels, and other tracking technologies to collect, store, monitor, and process certain information about you when you access and use our services, read our emails, or otherwise engage with us. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences, or your device. We use that information to make the site work, analyze performance and traffic on our website, to provide a more personalized web experience, and assist in our marketing efforts. We also share information with our social media, advertising, and analytics partners. You can change your default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of required cookies when utilizing our site; this includes necessary cookies that help our site to function (such as remembering your cookie preference settings). For more information, please see our Privacy Notice.

Marketing

On

We use online advertising to promote our mission and help constituents find our services. Marketing pixels help us measure the success of our campaigns.

Performance

On

We use qualitative data, including session replay, to learn about your user experience and improve our products and services.

Analytics

On

We use web analytics to help us understand user engagement with our website, trends, and overall reach of our products.