Sexual health sites for teens spread misinformation

A study from Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and the Stanford University School of Medicine shows that health websites that have sexual health information for teens are often “riddled with errors and omissions.”
Lead researcher Sophia Yen, MD, said, “Even widely trusted sites like WebMD are not that accurate when it comes to adolescent reproductive health…Teens should be cautious about finding sexual health answers on the Web.”

About half of the Web sites, including such highly trafficked destinations as Wikipedia and Mayoclinic.com, failed to provide accurate, complete information about emergency contraception, also known as “the morning-after pill.” For instance, sites often failed to say that minors can buy emergency contraception from authorized pharmacists in nine states, and many sites did not correct the myth that emergency contraception causes an abortion.

So where can young people find accurate sexual health info? The research team found that the most reliable sites are Go Ask Alice, the Center for Young Women’s Health, TeensHealth, and Planned Parenthood’s Teen Wire.