Alicia Florrick is so much more than The Good Wife (Tuesdays, 10p, on CBS). She's a good mom, a good lawyer, a good dresser, smart, calm, and cool. She was hit broadside by allegations (and admissions) that her husband was sleeping with prostitutes and taking bribes in his post as state's attorney and she's picking up the pieces of her life, her family and her career.

It's clear that CBS and the show's viewers see her as an aspirational figure. She is the hero in nearly every storyline. She is the character you root for. She handles every challenge with grace and aplomb. The show's costume designer fields questions from fans about her pitch-perfect wardrobe; advertising sponsor Buick not only buys commercial time during the show but enjoys a bit of corporate synergy when we see Alicia behind the wheel of her own Buick in many episodes.

And just last week we found out that Alicia's preferred method of contraception is the IUD. (Now that her philandering husband is out of jail and back at home, she says she had the IUD removed and she's got condoms at the ready. Not that she has any plans to re-establish marital relations. And the condoms may be her teenage son's secret stash. Stay tuned...)

I had the opportunity to attend ISIS's terrific Annual Youth, Technology & Sexual Health (aka. Sex::Tech) Conference for the first time this year.  It was a great opportunity for me to continue my edification in the field of reproductive health, but not just as an attendee; The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy was a sponsor of this year's conference and I was asked to participate in a panel entitled "National Prevention Programs: Effective Tools for Local Communities."



During my presentation I spoke about our work on the SexReally.com website and showed a video that became a hot topic of conversation during and after the conference. The video shows guys hanging out "in their natural environment" talking about sex.  Later in the video, we cut to one of their girlfriends who says that it might not be so bad if she got pregnant and that her boyfriend would make a good father.  Cut back to him and he's talking about ogling some unknown woman (not his girlfriend) and we can conclude that he might not be as ready as she thinks.  The point?  Be careful, have a plan, make sure your partner's plan is compatible with yours, and use contraception until you are both really ready.



As we noted here earlier in the month, February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month. For anyone who's interested in this topic (and anyone who's interested in teen and unplanned pregnancy prevention probably should be), I wanted to draw your attention to some content on the subject on our sister sites, stayteen.org and sexreally.com.

StayTeen's dating violence section has facts about dating violence, a quiz, and tips for what to do if you or someone you know is in an abusive relationship. Additionally, Youth Leadership Team member Maritza has a new post in StayTeen's Stay Out Loud section called "No Excuse For Abuse," in which she discusses the high profile case of dating violence perpetrated by pop singer Chris Brown against fellow singer and then girlfriend Rihanna and how it relates to young people who aren't famous but who may be dealing with similar issues.

Thanks to my terrific colleagues Kelleen Kaye, Katy Suellentrop, and Corinna Sloup, we all now have some more sobering news to digest. Just in time for the holidays.

Here it is in a nutshell: Although nearly all unmarried young adults think pregnancies should be planned and most want to avoid pregnancy at this time in their lives, many take a pass on using contraception completely, many know little about it, and many think contraception simply doesn't make much difference. Ouch.

These important new research findings are spelled out in great detail in the new publication, The Fog Zone: How Misperceptions, Magical Thinking, and Ambivalence Put Young Adults at Risk for Unplanned Pregnancy. The nationally representative survey of 1,800 unmarried young adults ages 18-29 is the first of its kind to focus in depth on the attitudes and behavior of both single men and women regarding pregnancy planning, contraception, and related issues and provides a series of maddening contradictions among young adults. Consider the following:

Nearly all unmarried young adults ages 18-29 believe pregnancy is something that should be planned (94% of men and 86% of women) and say that it is important to avoid pregnancy in their lives right now (86% of men and 88% of women). Even so:

• Only about half of sexually active unmarried young adults use contraception regularly--many say they used it inconsistently (24%) or not at all (19%) over the past three months.
• About four in ten (38% of men and 44% of women) agree with the statement: "It doesn't matter whether you use birth control or not; when it is your time to get pregnant it will happen."
• Many (29% of women and 42% of men) say it is at least slightly likely they will have unprotected sex in the next three months--17% of women and 19% of men describe it as either extremely or quite likely.

MTV's new show Teen Mom premiered last week and introduced us to the difficulties involved with actually raising a child after pregnancy and delivery. Farrah wants to date, Maci and Ryan are attempting to get along and plan a wedding, Amber is trying to find balance in her life with baby Leah and boyfriend Gary, and Catelynn and Tyler are working to get back to normal after their adoption experience.

Though all of the mothers on the show are teens - the show is called Teen Mom, after all - their struggles might not be much different if they were in their 20s. Just because 20-something moms who had an unplanned pregnancy aren't grouped in the "teen mom" category doesn't mean they don't have a tough time trying to raise their children and live their lives.