The Other Side of Sex

"I'm pregnant"

The words appeared on my computer. 1,341 miles away one of my closest friends had just told me the life changing news over Instant Messenger. A child of adoption and having been raised in a catholic family and attending a catholic high school and college, I didn't have to ask her what her views on what would be happening next were. It stunned me to hear that one of my closest friends was going to be a mother. Though she always was the caring type it was still hard to see someone I had spent so much time with and even dated at one point open up the idea of taking care of a child.

The truth is in today's culture sex is such a common part of relationships, particularly in college. People it seems often look to find the intimacy and closeness that comes with sex often not realizing the consequences. I know that I've constantly found that closeness throughout my life often not thinking past the moment. However, America has one of the highest pregnancy rates of developed countries with a 7.5% chance of a teenager getting pregnant. The interesting thing about this statistic is it does not take into account the majority of kids in college where sex much more open. Even though my friend was on the pill, used a condom and even tracked the times when she was most likely to get pregnant, it happened eventually. The truth is that sex is prevalent and I don't think anyone would give it up given it's place in our culture. In a recent survey in the UK the surveyor's found that "As the credit crunch bites, Britons may be turning to sex as a cheap way to pass the time" (complete article here). What than is the appropriate approach to sex and pregnancy in today's culture and what do people feel should be acceptable?