Morning after pills for 17 year old girls

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Originally Posted by Bruno

Why would this be a bad decision?

I agree that the morning after pill is onyl an issue when it is too late. Using condoms at that age would be much better, and by that age they should have gotten a proper sex-ed talk with their parents.

This law won't change that. You can't stick your head in the sand and pretend that kids at that age are not going to have sex. they will. the only thing you have under your control is the amount of information and responsibility you can give them beforehand. If that is covered, then the chances of them needing a morning after pill are very, very slim.

So if they really should need it, it is not a bad idea imo that they can get it instead, of keeping their mouth shut and hoping that nothing will come from it.
I hope that my daughters will always feel comfortable enough to talk with my wife about things like this (I understand that dads are not the first choice here :)) but at age I don't feel that she should need my approval for a getting this pill.

EDIT: Also before people get all upset: No, this will not mean that hundreds of innocent 17 year old girls will suddenly engage in orgies, which would otherwise never have entered their minds if they hadn't heard of this law.

To answer ralph:


We will have this discussion with my daughters way before then. You don't want to wait with talking with your kids until YOU think it is allowed for them to have sex.

You (well at least we) have this talk waaay before then, so that by the time they are in a situation where they have to make a choice, they have correct information, and have been able to think about it before hand. Imo that is much better than when the find themselves in the back seat of a car without a clue, but with the 'certainty' that you can't get pregnant the first time.

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Bruno,

I wish more parents felt as you do, - and had your wisdom.

Steve

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Originally Posted by singlewedge

+1 on the difference.

But I disagree with the condoning unsafe sex. For some yes, but for others it will be used as:

- Condom broke
- Oh god what did I do at that party last night
- Oh crap I forgot my pill this morning
- etc...

For those of you that do not know how the pill works, it forces the lady to have her entire period in the span of 24 - 48 hours instead of the normal week or so. If I am off on this please correct me. A weeks worth of cramping, bleeding, bloating, pain and feeling like sh**, does not in my book sound like someone is condoning sex.

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I didnt say it was condoning sex...

I realize what the birth control pill does...but the day after is different...

yes there are instances where it could be used where it is needed not cuz of neglagence but need...like you said...

condom broke ... forgot to take the pill in the morning..sexual abuse...

but to just use it because its there so therefore we dont need to take precaution is what I am against...

It shouldnt be used instead of safer responsible actions but with them in case of accident as described...

and o my god what did I do at that party last night is not a good excuse...know what you are doing especially at that age...

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Originally Posted by erictski

its actually condoning unsafe sex...

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Just quoting these together to try to get at what you mean.

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Originally Posted by erictski

I didnt say it was condoning sex...

I realize what the birth control pill does...but the day after is different...

yes there are instances where it could be used where it is needed not cuz of neglagence but need...like you said...

condom broke ... forgot to take the pill in the morning..sexual abuse...

but to just use it because its there so therefore we dont need to take precaution is what I am against...

It shouldnt be used instead of safer responsible actions but with them in case of accident as described...

and o my god what did I do at that party last night is not a good excuse...know what you are doing especially at that age...

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I agree that the morning after pill is a last resort that should only be used when needed and that it is not something to be relied on. I also agree that "oh my god what did I do" is not a good place to be, and there is no way to justify it, but I would say that, in that situation, the morning after pill is probably the right choice. Again, I don't see the morning after pill as condoning or encouraging people to make bad decisions, but if the bad decisions are already made, it is a way to move forward.

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Originally Posted by holli4pirating

Just quoting these together to try to get at what you mean.



I agree that the morning after pill is a last resort that should only be used when needed and that it is not something to be relied on. I also agree that "oh my god what did I do" is not a good place to be, and there is no way to justify it, but I would say that, in that situation, the morning after pill is probably the right choice. Again, I don't see the morning after pill as condoning or encouraging people to make bad decisions, but if the bad decisions are already made, it is a way to move forward.

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Definately at that point its a good desicion...I guess what I am trying to say is the biggest thing is to still educate and talk with your kids about it so that they know how to be responsible if they choose to be active and keeping themselves out of bad situations.

To clarify I am not against the day after pill...I just hope my kids are smart enough and we educate them enough that they will hopefully not use such a pill unless something went wrong...

Again I am not against it...its better than having girls walk around pregnant at prom and have those kids start off in a place where they werent actually wanted from the start.

I voted wrong decision for three reasons:

(1) most responsible parents, in my opinion, have open and candid discussions with their children about sex, and if a young women / older child needs or wants birth control, the parents should be involved in deciding what type of birth control is best. All contraceptives have health risks, in addition to the risks of STDs, and a morning after pill, in my opinion, increases the risk that youngsters will be less responsible, and decide that they do not need or want parental guidance. I had only one daughter, but four children altogether. I can report that each of my children have distinct personalities, and they probably do not have the same comfort level talking about this issue. If we had four daughters, my guess would be that each would have a different attitude, regardless of how the parents brought them up.

(2) I think the availability of a pregnancy escape hatch, might tip the balance toward taking the risk of having sex for some young women who might otherwise not have sex at that age. I agree that a person age 17 usually should be in control of her own body, but breaking the virginity thing can be pretty traumatic for some people. Catching a serious STD on that first try I'm guessing would be very traumatic.

(3) I think the FDA's decision is an attempt to address the significant problem of teen pregnancy in the inner city and rural poor, where there ia an astronomically high teen pregnancy rate and which is probably the result of limited or no parental involvement in any significant decision confronting these young people. These teens probably have limited access to affordable contraception too. While the social goal is admirable, I think its a poor policy decision because of the spill over problems to others.

RalphS

There is usually a lot of speculation of what would or would not happen etc., but I find that in most cases these are just that - speculations not based on any significant data.

There is some history to this decision - the FDA was ordered by court to enact it. The reason was that failing to so in the court's opinion was entirely politically motivated and not justified by the research on the subject.

And finally here's a quote from their website.

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Originally Posted by http://www.fda.gov

FDA's Mission Statement<!-- #EndEditable -->

<!-- #BeginEditable "Body of Text" --> The FDA is responsible for protecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation. The FDA is also responsible for advancing the public health by helping to speed innovations that make medicines and foods more effective, safer, and more affordable; and helping the public get the accurate, science-based information they need to use medicines and foods to improve their health.

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I care more about responsible teenagers than the irresponsible ones.

Making the morning after pill freely available means the more responsible ones can use it if/when necessary. For that reason I'm in favour.

If it means the irresponsible ones become even more careless, then it makes little difference, they've probably chosen to be that way anyway.

I used to believe that education was the key, but that hasn't proven to be the case. A 10 year old today would have to live in a cave to not realise the basics of how babies are made. Today's children are well informed. They just choose to take the risks.

Kids have sex. Kids drink. Kids do drugs. Kids commit crimes. I did all of those. It's about time people start accepting the truth and PREPARING for it rather than trying to diverge it. If a 15 yr. old girl is even thinking about using a morning after pill it isn't the accessibility of the pill that will push her to have sex. She made that decision long before. Seems to me there were probably similar discussions to this among adults back when sex-ed was starting to be taught at a young age. We are just getting smarter about 'unwanted child' prevention. Good.

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Originally Posted by Philadelph

Kids have sex. Kids drink. Kids do drugs. Kids commit crimes. I did all of those. It's about time people start accepting the truth and PREPARING for it rather than trying to diverge it. If a 15 yr. old girl is even thinking about using a morning after pill it isn't the accessibility of the pill that will push her to have sex. She made that decision long before. Seems to me there were probably similar discussions to this among adults back when sex-ed was starting to be taught at a young age. We are just getting smarter about 'unwanted child' prevention. Good.

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I agree with you completly, I look back on the stuff I did at 17. If I had gotten caught I would never have gotten into the service and law schools would have laughed at my application.

I also agree that it is better to educate children and teens about sex instead of just pretending that they won't do it.

I have to say that I don't think I like the idea of pills being avaible without persciption and parental consent. This is simply because unlike condoms, this is medication and anyone regardless of age should be talking to a doctor before taking it (side effects, potential allergy's etc). Since we are talking about minors the doctor needs parental consent in order to treat.

I forgot to mention, this reminds of several years ago one of the states (can't remeber which, I've lived in too many) was talking about putting an age restriction of 18 on condoms, the reason was that allowing kids to buy condoms would encourge them to have sex. In that instance I felt that it was stupid, kids will have sex forbidding them from buying condoms will only result in more teens having children. In this case though I don't like it, because as I stated above the pills are a drug.

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Originally Posted by singlewedge

.....it forces the lady to have her entire period in the span of 24 - 48 hours instead of the normal week or so. If I am off on this please correct me.

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This may be true of some pills, but it most certainly wasn't true of any of the 3 different OCP's my ex-wife used when we were together. It made them extremely regular, frequently starting early in the morning every 4th Wednesday. They had no significant effect of duration except that there was a smaller deviation from average, so instead of 3~4 one month, and 6~7 another, they were always around 5, maybe a little less.