Morning After Pill

hedonist

Damn. Excellent post, and very well said.

Your girls are fortunate.

Hugh Freaking Dillon

stardust1976 wrote:

As a parent of three girls all within the ages that have been talked about here (11, 13, 15) I think the judge actually showed a huge amount of common sense.

I get that it's a sensitive subject, but feel strongly about it.

There aren't too many girls who are of 'reproductive age' but still very young, having sex. Yes, girls are starting puberty earlier, but that doesn't mean they are having sex. It doesn't mean they know what sex is, let alone want to do it! And the chances of those super young girls even knowing they have access to the pill or walking into a pharmacy and buying it are pretty slim also.

Now...I live in the real world and I understand that there ARE young girls out there having sex. In my opinion way too young to be having sex but it happens. Whether it's through rape, incest, peer pressure or just curiosity it happens. And the morning after pill is a contraceptive that can be used in an emergency situation to prevent a bigger situation happening down the track.

I do not believe for a second that this decision takes away the rights of the parent to actually parent. Those rights (more like responsibilities actually) are still there and will always remain there. But take this situation for example:

13 or 14 year old girl, goes to a party with trusted friends. Parents are good parents, drop her off and pick her up, they know where she is, who she's with and are happy to let her go. Unbeknownst to them, there is alcohol at the party....or even no alcohol, just a particularly rambunctious boy there. The girl, either through her own silliness, or through drink spiking, or through peer pressure has a drink or two.....and loses any sense of consequence she may have had and ends up having sex......or in the case of no alcohol, the boy pressures said girl into having sex. She knows she doesn't really want to...or maybe she does cause teenage girls ARE fickle creatures.....whatever the reason, she ends up having sex with this boy.

Is it not better that girl has access to a pill that can prevent pregnancy and stop her one mistake becoming a lifelong consequence? What if she is scared to tell her parents and waits and then is faced with the decision to either abort or continue with a pregnancy. Both of those options have bigger, more far reaching consequences than taking a pill. (which btw, is not an easy fix - from what I understand there are a lot of nasty side effects, and taken once, would probably have the effect of a fantastic deterrent for sex in the future).

This does not mean that she should not be educated about how condoms should be used to prevent STD's, that any pill, not just the morning after pill, does not protect you 100% from pregnancy and does not protect you at all from STD's. That she should not be educated on making smart choices.

It means that they judge is well aware that teenagers, young and older, WILL make stupid decisions. And that one stupid decision should not have a consequence that follows her for the rest of her life.

My girls are educated, and they know right from wrong. They are good girls and I always know where they are and who they are with. But am I naive enough to think that they will never be in a situation that isn't ideal? That they will never succumb to peer pressure, that they will never have a drink and make stupid mistakes?
No.
I understand that despite my best education and intention, they may well end up in some situation that means they make a stupid decision. I would much rather they have the ability to go and get this for themselves in the first 24 hours, and worry about having to tell me later, than have them stressing out and scared and tell me later when it's too late.

This doesn't even begin to touch the surface of all the other situations out there where a young girl might need to take this pill and might not be able to tell her parents. What if she's going to get a beating if she talks to them? What if they are not around? What if they are around but don't care? What if she's been raped and is too scared and ashamed to talk? What if......

There are honestly so many scenarios that make this a decision in favour of common sense, that I find it unfathomable that anyone would be upset about it. But that's just me.

/thread