Since 1991, U.S. teenage pregnancy, abortion and birth rates have declined steadily in every age and racial/ethnic group. Teenage birth rates declined in every state as well as in the District of Columbia and the Virgin Island. Research indicates that sexually active teens are becoming more effective users of contraception and that more teens are choosing to remain abstinent during early and middle adolescence.

Nevertheless, the U.S. continues to have higher rates of pregnancy, birth and abortion than other industrialized nations. Teens aged 18 and 19 account for as much as 66 percent of U.S. teen births. Most teenage mothers come from socially and/or economically disadvantage background and adolescent motherhood often compounds this disadvantage.

Federal officials have long warned on the negative consequences for teen parents and their children. To be more specific, teen mothers are more likely to drop out school, remain unmarried and live in poverty; children of teen parents are more likely to grow up poor, have a single parent, experience abuse or neglect and end up in the child welfare system; sons of teen mothers are more likely to end up in prison, while the daughters are more likely to become teen parents themselves; eight of ten fathers do not marry the mothers of their first children; teen fathers have lower education levels and suffer earning losses of 10 to 15 percent annually.

May is Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month, a month designated to raise awareness about teen pregnancy and the need for effective, comprehensive teen pregnancy prevention programs. The message of this day is as clear as possible: sex may often result in unwelcome consequences, especially in teens’ case who are not prepared for their sexual lives.

This message is on the front-page of any organization focusing on preventing teen pregnancy, especially this month. Educations leaders, businesses, groups representing elected officials, fatherhood and male involvement groups, teen websites, health sector leaders, media, youth serving groups, faith-based groups and other prominent national organizations joined forces to teach teenagers how to prevent pregnancies.

Teens are being asked to go to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy’s new teen web site, www.stayteen.org for a short online quiz asking youths what they would do in under-pressure situations, drinking and gossip. The quiz is destined to teens ages 13 and older.

Sarah Brown, chief officer of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy hopes the quiz will help teens (taking it) to acknowledge the consequences of unsafe sex and to make them more aware of the fact that he or she answering the questions could be one of those involved in the given scenarios.

Several leading entertainment media companies are promoting the National Campaign’s quiz, including ABC Daytime’s “One Life to Live,” which teaches teenagers about sex, love, relationships and preventing teen pregnancy, The Candie’s Foundation, NBC’s “The Baby Borrowers,” Fox Broadcasting Co. and The N, Nickelodeon's network for teens.

More details you can find on their web sites at:  http://blogs.abc.com/kristen; http://www.candiesfoundation.org; http://www.nbc.com; http://www.the-n.com; http://www.fox.com.

Among the top websites for teens that are featuring the National Campaign message are ThinkMtv.com, CWTV.com, Sewenteen.com and YourProm.com.

Teens can also find out more about Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month at www.teenpregnancy.org.