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consequences of unprotected intercourse or contraceptive failure: It is estimated that among Australian teenagers, one abortion occurs for every teenage birth,7 and that the number of teenagers having abortions each year has more than doubled since 1971.8 Young people in Australia are exposed to two potentially conflicting discourses regarding sexual health: one focusing on safer sex and the other on pregnancy prevention. The safer-sex discourse was developed by the gay community in response to the HIV pandemic;9 a modified version has been extensively incorporated into sexual health programs in Australian schools.10 It emphasizes the use of condoms for protection against HIV and other STDs. In contrast, the pregnancy prevention discourse has a much longer history and is tied to women’s struggles to separate sex from reproduction and government policies on population planning.11 The emphasis here is on the provision of effective contraception. Many medical practitioners and family planning experts recommend the pill because of its low failure rate.12 Although these discourses have distinct Jo Lindsay is research fellow, Anthony M.A. Smith is senior research fellow and Doreen A. Rosenthal is director—all at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University, Melbourne. The research on which this article is based was funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services. The authors thank Lyn Turney, Maggie Kirkman and Louise Keogh for their comments on early drafts. Conflicting Advice? Australian Adolescents’ Use of Condoms or the Pill