Annie (AKA Hey Terra!) has been around long enough to have experienced a lot of what Life can dish out. But, it hasn’t been so long that she's forgotten what it's like to be your age. Check out some of the thousands of email questions teens from around the world have sent to Terra. You may learn something useful from her answers:
Pregnancy:
“My 11 year old friend might be pregnant.”
Hey Terra,
My friend might be pregnant what should she do? She is only 11.Help
Dear Help,
You understand that your friend has to have gotten her period to actually get pregnant, right? If she has gotten her period and has had unprotected sex then she's at risk for an unwanted pregnancy. If she has missed her period since having unprotected sex, then you're right, she might be pregnant.
But before she starts to think about what she should do, she needs to find out for sure if she is, in fact, pregnant.
There are home pregnancy tests that you can buy at any drug store, but they don't give an accurate read until a girl is at least 10 days late from her regular period start day.
If she needs someone to talk to right now, then I suggest that she call 1.800.230.PLAN (that is the Planned Parenthood hotline. The call is free and it won't appear on anyone's phone bill.). The people who answer the phone are totally cool and will help your friend figure out what she should do next.
In friendship,
Terra
Need some advice? Write to Terra.
She'll give you a straight answer you can trust without any lectures.
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