According to Breitbart.com, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ruled that 17-year-old girls will be allowed to buy the "morning-after" emergency contraceptive without a doctor's prescription or parental consent. I have some serious problems with this idea.
Despite the fact that 17-year-old girls are much more worldly than they used to be, how well informed are they on the risks, side effects, and future problems associated with this pill? Does taking this pill create the emotional rollercoaster that teenage girls go through normally with hormonal changes or the mood swings that women go through with pregnancy? How are the parents supposed to respond to a child (yes, she is a child) who is emotionally all over the place when they have no idea what is going on? Why, in a nation that will not let your child get her ears pierced without parental consent until she is eighteen, are we letting a 17-year-old do something this serious without parental guidance and help? How does this square with schools where a 17-year old can get in trouble for having aspirin in her pocketbook?
Regardless of what the issue is, I would want to have a place at the table for any serious decision regarding my child. Maybe parenting is not valued anymore, but rules like this make it more difficult for parents to be parents. Admittedly, communicating with your teenager is not always a picnic (I survived three daughters who were all teenagers at one time and I am still relatively coherent), but it needs to be tried and will pay off dividends after they grow up a bit. This ruling is destructive to families and is a very bad idea.
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