Imagine sitting awkwardly in the doctor's office with your mother. The doctor comes in, checks you and asks some questions. Are you afraid I'll ask you "Are you sexually active?" Your mother is sitting in front of you and you are afraid of what she will think of you when you answer "Yes". to the question. You want to do the right thing and take birth control to be safe, but you know your mom will say no. Girls in the 21st century should have the right to protect themselves with any type of contraceptive method they choose without parental consent. Approximately 40% of sexually active teens admit that they did not use any form of protection (such as a condom) during their last session. Behavior like this leads to greater risks of pregnancy or even worse. From 2007 to 2011 there was a 26% decline in teen pregnancies between the ages of 15 and 19, the number was 435,436 pregnancies, dropping to an all-time low of 329,797 nationwide in 2011, or a difference of 105,639 compared to 2007. This decline is largely due to the use of birth control. John Santelli states that “If most of the progress in reducing teen pregnancy rates is due to improved contraceptive use, national policy must catch up to these realities” (US Teen Pregnancy). Experts are very encouraged by the recent decline, but they can't stress enough that more needs to be done to get birth control out to those who need it. “It is clear that one of the tasks at hand is to get back on the right path, and that is to convince more young people. of the importance of delaying sexual activity and persuading sexually active adolescents to use contraception consistently and carefully,” said Bill Albert, spokesperson for the National Campaign for Adolescent Prevention and Unpla...... half of the document...... .com. Bloomberg, March 18, 2009. Web. April 10, 2014. “Parental Consent and Birth Control (Sidebar).” File Issues and Controversies: n 2005. Web. March 30, 2014. “Update: Birth Control Policy.” Problems and controversies. Facts On File News Services, December 17, 2006. Web. March 30, 2014. "Update: Teen Pregnancy." Problems and controversies on file: N. Page Problems and controversies. Facts On File News Services, July 6, 2007. Web. March 30, 2014. "TEEN PREGNANCY RATES IN U.S. ARE DOWN MOSTLY BECAUSE TEENS USE CONTRACTEPTS BETTER." Teen pregnancy rates in the United States are declining primarily because teens are better at using contraceptives. Np, nd Web. April 11. 2014.