The majority of pregnancies that occur for adolescent women are unplanned. But some pregnancies in the teen years -- a general estimate is usually about one in five -- are intended or planned. One reason that sex education likely hasn't reduced those pregnancy rates as much as it might is that some teens know full well what birth control is and how and when to use it, but choose not to, sometimes because they -- maybe you -- want to become pregnant.

It may seem silly to address a topic that many of us had explained when we were very young. Unfortunately, very few of us have had it explained well, leaving a good many with no idea what the birds and the bees really mean to our everyday sexual lives. Every day someone at Scarleteen asks if this, that or the other thing is a pregnancy risk, or how they can tell if they are pregnant, or how they can even get pregnant in the first place. It isn't stupid or immature not to know the answers to these questions. It is only foolish not to ask them when we don't know the answers, or to assume we'll just be "lucky," and so never try to learn.

When I was 16, due to a very irresponsible pairing of an impetuous one-night stand and a few days of partying, I woke up one morning to discover I had mononucleosis and walking pneumonia. As if that wasn't enough, my period was late.

It's amazing that with something as safe, simple, affordable and revolutionary as emergency contraception that it STILL isn't being used by millions of women who could use it, and who would prefer to avoid an abortion or an unwanted pregnancy. In part, that's because so many doctors and clinics still do not inform and educate women about EC. Here's some EC clarity, on the house. Pass it on!

Want to know what to expect at your first gynecologists' or reproductive health exam? We've got the lowdown for you here.

Your menstrual cycle and your reproductive system have held people in awe (or perpetual duh, depending on how you look at it) for thousands of years. Follow us through a tour of how it all works, how to best manage it and use it to empower yourself, and find out what it means now and has meant to others in the past.

We get a lot of questions from teens who are wondering if they can prevent pregnancy after intercourse, whether the concern is due to a broken condom or from not using any method of contraception in the first place. Regardless of how it happened, there is something that can reduce the risk of pregnancy if used within 120 hours (or with an IUD, eight days) of your risk. That something is Emergency Contraception.