The city of Chicago is attempting to stem high teen pregnancy rates with a shocking new campaign featuring “pregnant” males. The 2013 teen pregnancy prevention campaign features ads that are visible on public buses, trains and bus shelters in the Windy City.

The ads, showing “pregnant” young males, have written on them, “Unexpected? Most teen pregnancies are.” The campaign then encourages viewers to go to BeYouHealthy.org to learn about how to avoid unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. One of the aims of the campaign is to remind teenage boys that though the female is pregnant for nine months, the male also has to take responsibility.

Chicago Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Bechara Choucair said about the provocative ads discouraging teen parenthood, “Improving the health and well-being of our youth is a key component in our comprehensive effort to make Chicago the healthiest city in the nation. These ads work to increase education and awareness, which will in turn reduce the number of teenage pregnancies in Chicago.”

Though the teen birth rate recently decreased 33 percent, according to a recent Health Department report, the rate of teen pregnancy in the city is still reported to be 1.5 times the national average.

The Chicago ads will be up for only one month.

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