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Lots of people write in hoping that we can tell them immediately whether they or their girlfriends are pregnant or not. But it is impossible to do this over the Internet. Some of the symptoms of pregnancy are similar to symptoms of a period. So there’s only one way you can find out for sure whether you are (or your girlfriend is) pregnant: A pregnancy test.

There are two kinds of pregnancy tests: a urine test, which can be done at home or at a health care provider’s office, or a blood test, which must be done at a health care provider’s office.

When can a girl take a pregnancy test?

It is usually most effective for a girl to wait until after she has missed her next period to take a pregnancy test. If she is a day or two late for her period, then she can take a home pregnancy test. (It is important to follow the directions exactly to ensure that the results are accurate.)

Why wait till then?

When a sperm meets an egg inside a girl’s fallopian tube, it is called “fertilization.” It takes about a week for the fertilized egg to travel from the fallopian tube into the uterus. At the end of this journey, the fertilized egg might attach itself to the lining of the uterus, which is called “implantation.” This is when pregnancy is considered to begin.

Once this happens, a girl’s body starts to release a hormone called hCG. Until her body begins producing this hormone, the test can’t tell whether a girl is pregnant.
A blood test generally will detect pregnancy a little sooner than 10 days after the last unprotected intercourse. This is because hCG is detectable in blood before it is in urine. So if a girl doesn’t want to wait until she has missed a period and it is at least 10 days after having unprotected sex, she and her partner can make an appointment with a health care provider to take a blood test.

Where can I get a pregnancy test done?

You have a few choices. You can:

• Go to a family planning clinic. You can find one in your area by looking in your local yellow pages under "family planning" or "clinics." Or, you can call 1-800-230-PLAN (7526) to be connected automatically to the Planned Parenthood health center nearest you or click here to find a confidential clinic.

• Go to your regular doctor or health care provider.

• Get a home pregnancy test and take it at home or at a friend’s house.

A quick push in favor of going to a clinic

While home pregnancy tests are very accurate, you might want to consider going to a clinic for a pregnancy test. There are two reasons for this:

1. Girls need regular checkups. About three years after a girl becomes sexually active, or when she reaches age 21, she needs to see a gynecologist every year. A gynecologist is a doctor who specializes in women’s reproductive health. Her exams will include a Pap test, which is done to see whether the girl or woman has any pre-cancerous or cancerous conditions. This is why it’s so important to go in every single year.

If a girl is under 21 or has not been sexually active for three years, then she can still go to a doctor and gynecologist when she has health concerns, like if she wants to get emergency contraception, hormonal birth control or if she is experiencing any unusual pain or bleeding. These visits do not always involve a pelvic exam where the gynecologist checks a girl’s reproductive organs.

2. Pregnancy isn’t the only thing you need to be worried about. There are more than 30 sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) out there, and many have no symptoms. So you can’t tell who has one just by looking at them. And basically, if you are at risk for pregnancy, or you could have caused a pregnancy, you’re at risk for an STD.

So, if you had unprotected sex of any kind, you and your partner should be tested for STDs. Then be sure to use condoms every time you have vaginal or anal sex and dental dams or condoms every time you have oral sex, unless you know for sure that you AND your partner are STD-free.

How much does it cost?

A pregnancy test at a family planning clinic might cost anywhere between $5 and $20, or it may even be free.

Pregnancy tests typically cost between $5 and $20 at a drugstore or grocery store. Most chain drugstores offer a wide selection of at-home, non-prescription pregnancy test kits, so that people can find one within their price range.

Will my parents know that I’ve been tested?

If you go to a Planned Parenthood clinic, or a clinic listed here, then no, your parent(s) will not know that you’ve been tested for pregnancy. These are confidential clinics for teens and adults. However, it is always a good idea to confirm the clinic’s confidentiality policy first by asking them when you call.

It’s normal to feel nervous about telling your parent that you might be pregnant or that you might have caused a pregnancy. This sometimes keeps teens from talking with their parent(s) about it. However, lots of teens find that telling a parent about what’s going on can be really helpful. Teens don’t have to go to the clinic alone, if a parent knows and is willing to help. Parents can offer some support during a really stressful time. So it’s always good to consider talking with a parent, or at least, an adult in your life who you know well and trust, so you don’t need to deal with this all by yourself.

Now, there are some situations in which telling a parent may result in harm to you, like getting kicked out of your house or some other terrible situation. With that in mind, parents shouldn’t find out about a pregnancy test, unless one of the following things were to happen:

• A girl takes a home pregnancy test and leaves the packaging in the garbage.

• A girl takes a home pregnancy test at a friend’s or her partner’s house and leaves the packaging in the garbage.

• A girl goes to a health care provider and provides her insurance information, which is on her parent’s plan, and they receive a report that she went to a health care provider without their knowledge.

And YES, a girl can get pregnant if:

• it’s her first time having intercourse

• she still has a hymen (sometimes called a cherry)

• her partner only put his penis in for a few seconds or a minute or any duration of time even if he didn’t fully ejaculate (cum)

• she has her period

So, put your mind at ease, and get tested for pregnancy and STDs.

If you need a hotline, check out our list here.