Did you know… "When you have sex with someone, you are having sex with everyone they have had sex with for the last ten years, and everyone they and their partners have had sex with for the last ten years." - C. Everett Koop, M.D., Former U.S. Surgeon General

In the U.S. alone, there are 19 million cases of STDs each year. Half of these cases occur in the 15-24 year age group. (Source: H. Weinstock, S. Cates, S. Berman. "Sexually Transmitted Diseases among American Youth: Incidence and Prevalence Estimates, 2000," Perspectives in Sexual Reproductive Health, 2004:36:6-10.

• CDC reports that 1 in 4 American teenagers has an STD.
• 10,000 new STD cases in teens every day in the U.S.
• A teen gets an STD every 8 seconds in the U.S. and 1 in 4 girls gets an STD
  on their 1st sexual encounter.
• Chlamydia and Gonorrhea are now more common in teenagers than in adults.
  (Sources cdc.gov, avert.org, cfoc.org)

What places you at risk for sexual activity…

• Older boyfriends or girlfriends.
• Peer pressure.
• Lack of parental values…there have been several studies that have shown when parents promote contraception, adolescents perceive that parents are approving of their sexual activity. (Source: ADDstudy. Forste&Heaton88-Medicalinstitute.org)
• Teens who use illicit drugs are 5 times more likely than those who do not to have sexual intercourse.
• Teens who drink alcohol are 7 times more likely to have sexual intercourse and to have had 4 or more sexual partners.

Facts on Contraception…

• Birth control pills provide NO protection against STDs.
• Condoms have voids (small intrinsic holes in the rubber) that are larger than the HIV virus.

"Simply put, condoms fail. And condoms fail at a rate unacceptable for me as a physician to endorse them as a strategy to be promoted as meaningful AIDS protection." - Dr. Robert Renfield, Chief of retro-viral research, Walter Reed Army Institute. (Source: "Condom 'Cure' Questioned by top AIDS researcher," Russel Shaw, Our Sunday Vistitor, 1/23/94.