The U.S. News and World Report full story says that 20 percent of teen-aged girls and 25% of teen-aged boys would be “pleased” if a pregnancy occurred—although the majority of sexually active teens would not be, says a new report from the U.S. Center for Health Statistics.

A related story says that 17% of teen-aged, sexually active girls use the rhythm method of birth control, the least reliable of all forms. Its failure rate is 25%, say experts.

This story also says 4.3 million teen-agers have had sex at least once.

U. S. News and World Report

“More than 40 percent of unmarried U.S. teenagers — or 4.3 million teen males and females — have had sex at least once, a new U.S. government report shows.

“This continues a flattening trend seen since 2002 and caps a downward trend seen between 1995 and 2002, especially in males, said report author Joyce Abma. The report was issued Wednesday by the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics.

“One of the great success stories of the past two decades has been the extraordinary declines in teen pregnancy and childbearing,” said Bill Albert, chief program officer at the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. “This progress has recently stalled out.”

Source: U.S. News and World Report, June 2, 2010

Source: U.S. National Center for Health Statistics