May isn’t just about warmer weather and gearing up for prom. It’s also Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month, a time to raise awareness about unplanned teen pregnancy and how to prevent it.

Did you know that the United States has one of the highest teen pregnancy and teen birth rates in the industrialized world? And one-third of girls get pregnant by age 20, according to the Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Too many teens think “it could never happen to me.” But the truth is that unplanned pregnancy can happen to anyone. That’s why it’s so important to wait if you haven’t had sex yet. And even if you have had sex, if you realize you’re just not ready for the responsibility of preventing a pregnancy and protecting yourself from STDs, then wait until you know that you can handle it. And if you’ve chosen to have sex, make sure you talk to your partner about using condoms and other forms of birth control—and then use them.

StayTeen.org and The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy challenge you to take their National Day Quiz to see how you’d respond to sexual situations that put you at risk of pregnancy. And check out their Relationship Reality widget below for a chance to win an iPod touch or plane tickets!

You should always be prepared with condoms and other forms of birth control if you plan on having sex. But we also know that you’re human, and mistakes happen. It only takes one moment of unprotected sex to get pregnant. If you’ve had unprotected sex and aren’t ready for the responsibility of having a baby, you do have an option—emergency contraception, or Plan B.

Plan B, the “morning-after pill,” is 75- to 89-percent effective at preventing a pregnancy when taken within 72 hours (3 days), though you can take it up to 120 hours (5 days) after unprotected sex. The sooner you take it, the better.

Until recently, Plan B was available over the counter if you were 18 or older. Teens under 18 could get Plan B with a prescription. But a recent FDA decision will soon allow 17-year-olds to get Plan B over the counter, too! Sex, Etc. staff writer Emily went to her pharmacy to see what it’s like to buy Plan B. Read her story, “The Long Walk to the Pharmacy.”

Allowing 17-year-olds to get Plan B over the counter will hopefully lead to fewer unplanned pregnancies. Plan B should only be used as a last resort, so it’s important to have a Plan A. What’s your Plan A? Tell us how you make sure you’re protected from both unplanned pregnancy and STDs.

When you hear the word “condom,” you probably think of the male condom. But did you know that there’s a female condom, too? The female condom is the only form of birth control designed for women that protects against both pregnancy and STDs. So why isn’t the female condom as popular as the male condom? It might have to do with price.

Female condoms cost between $2.80 and $4 each! That’s super expensive, considering that male condoms can cost as little as 50 cents each. But a new, cheaper female condom was recently approved. And they may cost as little as 60 cents when sold to clinics and health organizations.

What does that mean for you? It means that when this new female condom hits the market in a year or two, you’ll have one more affordable option when deciding how to protect yourself from pregnancy and STDs. For girls, the female condom is great—it’s designed specifically for women and even protects the labia from skin-on-skin STD transmission! Of course, not having sex will keep you completely safe from pregnancy and STDs. But for partners that decide to have sex, the female condom might be something to consider.

In the future you might see more female condoms alongside male condoms at the pharmacy. If female condoms were as accessible and inexpensive as male condoms, would you use them?

Virginity pledges are a part of some abstinence-only programs and have even gotten big endorsements from celebrities like Jordin Sparks and the Jonas Brothers. The idea makes sense on paper: Take a virginity pledge and promise to not have sex. This pledge is supposed to help you remain abstinent, and we know abstinence is the only birth control that is 100-percent effective at preventing pregnancy and STDs. But what if taking a pledge doesn’t work, or even worse, puts you at risk for pregnancy and STDs?

According to a new study, teens that take virginity pledges are just as likely to have sex as teens that don’t take a pledge. Teens that pledged had just as many sexual partners and started having sex at the same age as those that didn’t pledge. And the teens that took the pledge were less likely to use protection when they eventually had sex!

You just can’t take a virginity pledge, cross your fingers and hope to not have sex! What happens if you don’t stick to your pledge and never learned about how to protect yourself from pregnancy and STDs? Whether or not you take a virginity pledge, make sure you know where to get tested, how to get birth control and how to properly use a condom. It doesn’t hurt to be prepared!

Think drinking alcohol makes hooking up sexier? Think again. Teens are bombarded with messages that make alcohol and sex seem like a never-ending party. But we don’t live in the fantasy world of TV and movies—this is the real world.

Is it really sexier to be so drunk that you forget about birth control and condoms (maybe even your sexual partner’s name!) and have a pregnancy or STD panic the next day? That doesn’t sound sexy at all; that sounds like a nightmare.

There’s a new public service announcement in the UK urging teens to think twice before mixing alcohol and sex. Check it out, and keep these questions in mind as you watch:

• Who suffers the consequences of mixing alcohol and sex? The guy, the girl or both?
• Whose fault is it for having unprotected sex? The guy, the girl or both?
• Whose responsibility is it to practice safer sex? The guy, the girl or both?

Choosing not to have sex is the only way to completely avoid pregnancy or STDs. But if you choose to have sex, both you and your partner have to be able to make important decisions, like getting tested and using condoms and birth control. Throwing alcohol into that equation is a recipe for risk—risk of pregnancy, STDs and maybe even heartache.