A recent report by the American Academy of Pediatrics has claimed that teenage girls must be pushed for emergency contraception by pediatricians. It has been claimed by Dr. Cora Collette Breuner, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine, that there is dire need for emergency contraception to be made available over the counter.

It is known that emergency contraception taken within five days of intercourse can avoid pregnancy effectively and is a safe method too. However, for girls under the age 17, prescription has been made compulsory.

"From a strictly scientific point of view, there's not much controversy -- the medicine is pretty safe and pretty effective", asserted Dr. John Santelli, a pediatrician and chair of the department of population and family health at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

It has been claimed that "morning after pill" can do a lot better for girls, thereby prohibiting a woman's body from releasing eggs. There are others options too like specific combos of hormonal birth control.

It would be worth seeing if advance emergency-contraception prescriptions could be made part of a public health strategy to reduce teen pregnancy in the time to come.