Contraception in the Adolescent
1 Department of Obstetrics/Gynecology, Holy Cross Hospital of Silver Spring, 1500 Forest Glen Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20910
The article "Contraception in the Adolescent: Current Concepts for the Pediatrician" by Donald E. Greydanus, MD, and Elizabeth R. McAnarney, MD (Pediatrics 65:1, 1980) was disappointing in one aspect. Of more than nine pages of text, only two brief paragraphs dealt with the human choice involved in the decision to have sexual intercourse. They were labeled "Rhythm Method (Periodic Coital Abstinence)" and "Abstinence." Today the rhythm method is largely of historic interest. Contemporary methods of periodic abstinence, are the ovulation method (mucus method of Billings), or the combination of mucus and temperature, the so-called sympto-thermal method.




