Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade, access to reproductive health care in the U.S. has changed drastically. But 27-year-old medical student and former Sex, Etc. writer Sarah McNeilly is working toward not only reversing these changes but fixing inequities…
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Distraught. Disturbed. Distressed. These are words used by teens to describe how they feel about the overturning of Roe v. Wade. It can still feel hard to believe that the U.S. Supreme Court made this decision. In June 2022, the […]
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Growing up, abortion access was never something I worried about. But on May 2nd, 2022, a Supreme Court draft detailing the overturning of Roe v. Wade was leaked. I was a high school junior sitting in English class when I […]
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For nearly 50 years, the Roe v. Wade decision upheld the U.S. constitutional right to choose an abortion, allowing pregnant people to have agency over a life-changing decision. The Supreme Court reversal in June 2022, however, spells out a dangerous…
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Reproductive issues are all around us. For instance, there are frequent headlines about the future of access to a safe and legal abortion in the U.S. and ongoing battles about what we can learn (or not learn) in a sex […]
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In many ways, Abigail, 19, of Marlborough, MA, and Savannah, 18, of Coos Bay, OR, are a lot alike. Both are teenage girls, enjoy hanging out with friends and love playing with their pet dogs. Both also faced an unintended […]
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Nadya Okamoto is a 20-year-old junior at Harvard University. She is the Founder and Executive Director of PERIOD (period.org), one of the fastest growing, youth-run women’s health nonprofit organizations in the United States. Since she co-founded…
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Sex, Etc. has provided teens honest and inclusive sexual health information since it started in 1994. Our readers represent all sorts of backgrounds and identities, and for some, it might be the only place they can see themselves reflected and […]
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I’ll never forget the day when I almost peed my pants in a hospital lobby. After a technician tried and failed to perform a successful ultrasound, she ordered me to fill my bladder with 12 Dixie Cups of water and […]
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“Abortion.” The word may seem daunting and clinical, but the reality is, abortion is a safe and legal option when it comes to an unplanned pregnancy. Some people may have mixed feelings about abortion for many reasons, including the stigma […]
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Every year, nearly 750,000 teenage girls in the United States find out they are pregnant. Some are high school seniors about to head off to college. Others are just starting their sophomore or junior year. Some are even dealing with […]
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Imagine you’re 15 years old. You go to the emergency room because you slammed your finger in a door, and you walk out with the biggest news of your life. Well, that 15-year-old was me. A Simple Hospital Visit I […]
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Being a teenager is tough. There’s your awkward growing body, managing classes, nagging parents or guardians and annoying siblings. Pair that with all of the hormones active in your body, and you’ve got what can be a pretty uncomfortable period…
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Finding out that my girlfriend, Olivia, was pregnant was actually a happy time for me. I think most teen dads would freak out at first, but I must have skipped that part because we just laughed nervously when we found […]
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Natasha Vianna, 26, is an activist and former teen mom. She works for the Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy and started the Twitter campaign #NoTeenShame. Natasha wants to change the way people think about teen parents. They are not hopeless…
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As a teenager, you may hear a lot of conflicting information from family, friends and even adults about how pregnancy happens and how to prevent it. That’s why it is important to use a reliable resource to double-check the information […]
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During a busy summer of practices for show choir and the summer gym course at school, I’d forgotten about the one thing—my period. My period was late, ridiculously late. When Zach, my boyfriend of three years, brought up the idea […]
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As a teen staff writer for Sex, Etc., you’d think that I would be a whiz at anything and everything related to sexuality education. I thought I knew quite a lot, too. I mean, I’d taken sex ed classes at […]
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Can you imagine anxiously taking a pregnancy test or being the partner of someone who is taking one? The thought that you or your partner may be pregnant as a teen can be incredibly stressful. The couple of minutes that […]
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The screaming of a baby woke me up at 4 a.m. on Monday morning. I was exhausted and frustrated with this baby—not a real baby, but an infant simulator doll that I had to take care of for health class. […]
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Imagine that you had sex and the condom broke. Now you’re pregnant. You aren’t ready and can’t afford to be a parent right now. You have your whole life ahead of you—college, your dream job, starting a family. Your family […]
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Imagine you just found out that you are pregnant, and it was the last thing you wanted to have happen—at least right now. You’re scared and worried. After thinking long and hard, you decide that the only option that is […]
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“I became interested in reproductive health because when I was 15 I was sexually active and I did not know anything about contraceptives or protection,” explains 19-year-old Christian Redbird of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Christian started learning…
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I remember my freshman year. I dreaded third period—Life Skills Health, the most uncomfortable class I have ever taken. I always thought that if I ignored the information they gave me then I wouldn’t ever be affected by it. I […]
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