CHICAGO, IL – The American Academy of Pediatrics says that teenagers should be given access to birth control and emergency contraception rather than being drilled on the abstinence-only approach of President Bush and religious groups.The AAP has issues a list of recommendations as part of their updated teen pregnancy policy.

“Even though there is great enthusiasm in some circles for abstinence-only interventions, the evidence does not support abstinence-only interventions as the best way to keep young people from unintended pregnancy,” said Dr. Jonathan Klein, chairman of the academy committee that wrote the new recommendations.

Dr. S. Paige Hertweck, a pediatric obstetrician-gynecologist at the University of Louisville who provided advice for the report, claims that teaching abstinence instead of birth control increases the incidence of unsafe sex among teenagers who do become sexually active, which also increases the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease.

The report is published in July’s issue of Pediatrics, and represents a change in the 1998 policy, including the omission of the statement, “abstinence counseling is an important role for all pediatricians.” The new policy indicates that doctors should counsel teenagers to postpone sexual activity, they should responsibly ensure that teens have access to birth control, including emergency contraception.