Adolescent Access to Confidential Health Services (Issues at a Glance) (available online only)
Confidential health services are essential in promoting teens' health. Adolescents are at a critical stage of development, both physically and emotionally, and are beginning to establish their own identity and autonomy. A health care professional can help enormously by encouraging screening and treatment. This paper describes the legal and professional obligations for health care providers around adolescents’ confidentiality.

Adolescent Protective Behaviors: Abstinence and Contraceptive Use (The Facts) (Order publication - $1.00)
Although U.S. teens are increasingly adopting protective sexual behaviors, they face barriers to consistency in these behaviors. Advocates examines statistics from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey and other sources to better understand young people’s risk behaviors and protective behaviors.

Adolescent Sexual Behavior. II: Socio-Psychological Factors (The Facts) (available online only)
Teens' decisions whether to have sex and whether to protect themselves from pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are influenced by many factors. Studies link sexual risk-taking with drug and alcohol use and physical and sexual abuse, while good parent-child relations, academic aspirations, and sports participation can promote sexually healthy decisions by teens.

Adolescent Sexual Health in Europe and the U.S.—Why the Difference? (The Facts) (Order publication - $1.00)
The United States has far worse rates of adolescent pregnancy, birth, abortion, HIV, and STIs than almost all countries in Europe. Advocates for Youth initiated study tours to France, Germany, and the Netherlands to understand the underlying causes behind these difference.

Condom Effectiveness (The Facts) (Order publication - $1.00)
Many abstinence-only programs claim that condoms do not protect from HIV, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and pregnancy. But studies have repeatedly shown, and the Centers for Disease Control asserts, that when used consistently and correctly, latex condoms are highly effective in preventing the sexual transmission of HIV (during vaginal, oral, or anal intercourse).Latex condoms are also effective in preventing pregnancy and several STIs.

Contraceptive Access at School-Based Health Centers: Three Case Studies (available online only)
School-based health centers (SBHCs) can deliver accessible, confidential, and comprehensive medical and mental health care specifically designed for and at little cost to teens. Advocates interviewed the staff of three centers to learn more about their efforts. This paper summarizes the lessons learned from these SBHCs in successfully mobilizing community support, designing effective programs, and sustaining program financing.

Effective Sex Education (The Facts) (Order publication - $1.00)
Studies have repeatedly shown that comprehensive sex education is effective at assisting young people to make healthy decisions about sex and to adopt healthy sexual behaviors. No abstinence-only-until-marriage program has been shown to help teens delay the initiation of sex or to protect themselves when they do initiate sex. Yet, the U.S. government has spent over one billion dollars supporting abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. Adolescents have a fundamental human right to accurate and comprehensive sexual health information – information that could save their lives.

Emergency Contraception: A Safe & Effective Contraceptive Option for Teens (The Facts) (available online only)
Emergency contraception (EC)—a method of preventing pregnancy after sexual intercourse—is an important contraceptive option that could annually prevent at least 50 percent of unintended pregnancies among American women. Experts estimate that timely use of EC could prevent up to 70 percent of abortions. In fact, use of EC prevented about 51,000 abortions in 2000. Young people need information about and access to emergency contraception.

Emergency Contraceptive Pills—An Emergency Option for Preventing Pregnancy after Sex: A Brochure (Order publication - see order form for pricing)
Written by and for young women, this pamphlet provides information on emergency contraceptive pills, a birth control option that can be used AFTER unprotected sex.

Improving Youth's Access to Contraception in Latin America (Issues at a Glance) (available online only)
Most Latin American youth face significant obstacles to sexual and reproductive health services. These barriers interfere, in particular, with their obtaining and using effective, modern contraception and/or barrier protection against sexually transmitted infections (STIs). This document summarizes these barriers and ways to create youth-friendly services. Finally, it describes organizations in Peru, Ecuador, and Nicaragua working to design and implement effective strategies to improve youth's access to family planning.

Legal Issues and School-Based and School-Linked Health Centers (Issues at a Glance) (available online only)
The legal framework under which school-based and school-linked health centers (SBHC/SLHCs) operate is an evolving set of federal, state, and local laws, which can be difficult to understand. This paper attempts to answer questions around adolescent consent to treatment; adolescent confidentiality; liability; and which regulations govern SBHC/SLHCs.

Medical Organizations Support Condom Use (Issues at a Glance) (available online only)
Here Advocates has collected position statements from many medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Academy of Pediatrics – all supporting youth access to condoms and information about condoms.

Science and Success in Developing Countries - Holistic Programs That Work to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, HIV & Sexually Transmitted Infections (Report) (available online only)
Youth in developing countries face significant threats to their health and well-being—threats that include the HIV and AIDS pandemic, high rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and unintended pregnancies that may result in maternal morbidity and/or mortality. Given the need to focus limited prevention resources on effective programs, Advocates for Youth undertook an exhaustive review to find programs proven effective by rigorous evaluation and identified the 10 highly effective programs highlighted in this document.

Science and Success, 2nd Ed.: Programs that Work to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, HIV and STIs in the U.S. (Report) (Order publication - $15.00)
Given the need to focus limited prevention resources on effective programs, Advocates for Youth undertook exhaustive reviews of existing research to compile a list of those programs proven effective by rigorous evaluation. Nineteen programs appeared in Science and Success when it was first published in 2003; seven additional programs are included in Science and Success, Second Edition. This document describes each of the programs and provides information about replicating them in your school, community, or health center.

Science-Based Practices in Teen Pregnancy and HIV/STI Prevention: Selected Annotated Bibliography (From Research to Practice) (available online only)
This bibliography provides a selected list of publications and other resources around science-based practices in preventing teen pregnancy, HIV, and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). All selected publications and resources are available free online.

Teens and Emergency Contraceptive Pills: Issues for Health Care Providers & Educators (Issue at a Glance) (Order publication - $2.00)
Teens may experience actual (logistical) and perceived barriers to obtaining emergency contraception. For example, health care providers' lack of knowledge about ECP is a barrier to teens' obtaining emergency contraception. Other logistical barriers include cost, time constraints, lack of insurance, lack of transportation, and clinics' hours of operation. Perceived barriers include teens' fears of confidentiality being violated, of procedures such as blood tests or pelvic exams, and of side effects. This paper examines perceived and actual barriers and advises providers and educators as to how best to eliminate these.

The Social Conservatives’ War on Condoms (Policy Brief) (available online only)
Conservatives in the United States Congress are waging war on public confidence in condoms. Domestically in the United States and through U.S. foreign policy, these social conservatives are promoting a sexual health agenda based far more in ideology than grounded in public health science. Learn more about the “war on condoms” and how it is hurting young people in America and around the world.

Youth and the State of Science: Health, New Technologies, Ethics and Human Rights (The Facts) (available online only)
Many factors, including gender and age inequities, sociocultural norms, educational opportunities, provider attitudes, and economic opportunities, affect each young person's ability to use reproductive and sexual health information and services. This fact sheet explores new technologies for preventing pregnancy, HIV, and STIs, and examines the issues around making these available to all youth worldwide.