“3 in 10 teen American girls will get pregnant at least once before age 20… More than 50% of teen mothers never graduate from highschool” (11 Facts About Teen Pregnancy). Therefore, more than fifteen percent of American teenage girls will never graduate high school because they had a child before the age of twenty. Access to birth control could lower that percentage. Teenagers should have access to birth control, because it prevents pregnancies and can be beneficial to one’s health.
Birth control helps to prevent pregnancy, making it a positive option to have available to teenagers. In an Oklahoma school district where birth control made available to students, “’There wasn’t a push back, and it wasn’t controversial at all when the policy
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Birth control pills and patches can “help prevent endometrial and ovarian cancers” (What Are The Benefits Of The Birth Control Pill), can “help prevent cysts in the breasts and ovaries” (What Are The Benefits Of The Birth Control Pill), and can “reduce or help prevent premenstrual syndrome” (What Are The Benefits Of The Birth Control Pill). The prevention of cysts and cancers can spare teenagers procedures to have them removed later in life. The reduction of premenstrual syndrome can be beneficial, because the pain caused by the menstrual cycle can be a distraction due to the physical or emotional toll exhausted on one’s body. While the birth control patch and pill have extensive benefits, they do not protect against sexually transmitted diseases. Unlike birth control patches or pills, condoms protect against sexually transmitted diseases. Protection against such diseases is essential, because some sexually transmitted diseases can affect a person for their entire lifetime. Teenagers should not have their access to birth control restricted, because restricting teens from receiving birth control also restricts them from beneficial health
Van Hoff MH, Hirasing RA, Kaptein MB, Koppenaal C, Voorhorst FJ, Schoemaker J, (1998). The use of oral contraceptives by adolescents for contraception, menstrual cycle problems or acne. Acta Obstetrics and Gynecol Scand, 77(9), 898-904
The second reason for contraceptives being given to teenagers, will help them avoid many dangerous Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) associated with unsafe sexual practices. Studies have shown an increase in unprotected sexuality among teenagers can result in a wide-range of social problems, such as STDs. The topic of birth control in public schools has attracted much support from the American public, according to statistics surveyed. For example, a 2006 Associated Press-Ipsos survey discovered that 67% of Americans support the provision of contraceptives to students. This study also determined that, “About as many - 62 percent - said they believe providing birth control reduces the number of teenage pregnancies” (Associated Press).
Just imagine a 17 year old girl sitting on her bathroom floor. She is staring at this plastic stick that is now going to determine her choices for the rest of her life. The little plus sign causes her stomach to tense up and her throat to choke up. Who will help her? Who will pay for the food her and her baby need? Who is the father? Will she finish high-school and go to college? How will her parents react? This young girl has a choice that will have major impact on her life no matter what she decides. What if she was able to decide when and how she wanted these decisions/questions to come up? That young girl isn’t the only girl thinking about this choice; actually thousands of girls are. The United States has the highest teenage
“Teenagers make decisions in the heat of the moment, and whether they have access to birth control or not doesn’t factor in” (Weiner).So they need to have access to birth control in order to be protected from pregnancy and STDs. Research has shown that many girls would not continue to use birth control if they had to ask their parents for it but almost all of them would still continue to be sexually active. Also not only does requiring teens to have parental consent put them at risk for pregnancy and STDs but it also puts them at risk with their families. Some teens have abusive or unsupportive families that they would not be able to talk to about that kind of thing. For example there are girls whose parents would kick them out for getting pregnant and it would not be safe for the kids in those kinds of situations to talk to their parents about
Freely accessible birth control for teenagers has always been a topic of debate, but it prevents pregnancy, abortion, and it also has many health benefits. There are cons to the argument that suggests a rise in promiscuity in the adolescent demographic, but in spite of these cons the rise of birth control continues, because access to birth control helps adolescents make an informed and safe decision on whether or not to participate in sexual activities. It doesn’t make the decision for them.
We already know that some minors are stupid enough, naive enough, or defiant enough to have sexual intercourse with another person. That is all you need to know to figure out if minors should or should not be able to use birth control, if they’re going do it anyways, they should be able to protect themselves for the future. Approximately 1 million adolescent teens become pregnant each year and 86% of STI’s (Sexually transmitted infection) happen between ages 15-29 years old, showing just how big of a social issue this is for Americans. A valid argue against is, if you don 't let them protect themselves, they won’t have sex at all, fearing the consequences. This essay will cover why it is imperative that it is legal for minors to use birth
Welcome to America: land of opportunity and most importantly, free. Well, unless you're a young, possibly teenage girl seeking birth control. We have people with extreme morals and religious beliefs making those decisions for you! Let us not forget the people saying sex education is tainting our youth's brains, yet wonder why they lack the basic knowledge on STDs. Remember, "Choice is an essence of personal freedom," (Brooks, ...About Life Control). Therefore leading to the point that birth control should be complimentary to all.
Stating the obvious, no one can choose the gender they are born with. It is possible to change genders through extensive surgery once you are older, but you cannot choose how you are born. Maybe one day there will be the technology and science that provides that possibility, but today it does not exist. It is no new topic, but government mandated health care is something to be addressed. Though people’s opinions go back and forth and there is no leading side, many people have heard of the topic of government mandated birth control. The main argument in support of this is the question of why women should have to pay for something out of their control, while men do not.
In an article by choices pregnancy care center, “Reports indicate that there are approximately 1 million teenagers in America that become pregnant each year. Seven out of ten teens have engaged in sexual intercourse by their 19th birthday. Teens have 18% of all the abortions the United States. 78% of teen pregnancies are unintended. Of all the teenage women that become pregnant, 35% choose to have an abortion rather than bear a child” (Choices). In a recent study of schools done by Guttmacher institute, “72% of U.S. public and private high schools taught pregnancy prevention; 76% taught abstinence as the most effective method to avoid pregnancy, HIV and other STDs; 61% taught about contraceptive efficacy; and 35% taught students how to correctly use a condom as part of required instruction. 60% of females and 55% of males are being taught about birth control and other forms contraceptives” (Guttmacher). Most girls believe taking a form of birth control such as the pill will prevent them from becoming pregnant but they are wrong. No contraceptive is 100% effective and there are even case of women getting pregnant with the highest form of birth control which is the IUD. Most boys believe that just because a girl is on a form of birth control that she cannot get pregnant but unfortunately, they are wrong, men still need to wear a form of protection to reduce the chance of pregnancy even more. Of the percentage of girls who get
As we see in the world today many teens are becoming mothers before they finish high school or before they turn 18. Although some teens are on birth control already many are not because they are afraid to tell their parents which may lead to their parents thinking they are sexually active. Moreover, teens usually find themselves in a professional clinic trying to seek different options of birth control but they are derailed by having parental consent or notification. Many clinics have a policy were teen needs to have parental consent to receive birth control. Many parents feel that teens should be able to make the choice by themselves if they are having sex or just being careful.
Nobody wants the government to have control over their bodies. Planned Parenthood is an organization that provides affordable health care and sex education for women, men, and young people. They supply many people with a variety of things through the funding of the government, but those who are pro-life want to bring an end to Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood is essential to have. Planned Parenthood contributes greatly to those who are unable to pay for quality health insurance.
“Nearly one hundred years ago, when Planned Parenthood was founded, birth control was illegal” (Richards) The first clinic was called Mothers Health Office, it opened in Brookline in 1932. After the first clinic opened, more clinics opened in other cities. In 1937 Salem police raided the clinic, seized all the records and arrested medical and social workers, then the same thing happened to all the other clinics that opened up.(Negri 2) Even though many religious beliefs don't approve of birth control, I think schools should teach about it so students and teens may better understand the repercussions of pregnancy and wouldn't have to deal with the cost of raising a child and so they wouldn't end up like the large number of teen pregnancies in todays society.
We have all heard sad stories of unwanted teenage pregnancies. There are the girls who drop out of school to care for babies they did not really want, having to work to support their unexpected new "families." There are the guys who marry before they are ready and perhaps to wives they would not otherwise have married-so often these marriages end in divorce. Most tragic of all, though, are the children who grow up knowing that they were not wanted in the first place, knowing that they were more a burden to their parents than a joy even before they were born. Clearly, we as a society need to get a grip on this problem of teenage pregnancy, and the obvious solution is to encourage teens to be responsible and practice birth control. But we face so many choices in deciding which type of birth control to use. Condoms? IUDs? Diaphragms? DepoProvera injections? "The Pill"? Abortion? Abstinence? Which method of birth control is the most practical and the most likely to provide a legitimate solution to the problem of teenage pregnancy?
Sex education has been a taboo subject for a long time, even out of schools. Usually an ignored topic of discussion, when adults would be asked such questions by younger individuals the answers were usually misinformation and complex euphemisms. This strategy, use merely so the adult avoided embarrassing themselves, would only further confuse the person asking and it would not even answer the original question. Such examples include babies being brought to the parents by a stork, the birds and the bees, and naming the sexual organs after objects. Due to culture, such customs have been hard to get rid of and improve upon, especially with many of this shame originating from organized religion. In recent years though, conservatism on this education
Babies are born more likely to be born premature and/or suffer low birth weight. There are a lot of problems involved with children having children. There is a higher risk of low birth rate, premature labor, and stillbirth. The problem is teenage girls are not done growing and fully maturing, there for, when they become pregnant it induces problems not only on the baby but the mother as well. *A general rule: The younger the mother, the greater risk of complications for both the mother and child. Often pregnant teenage mothers deny the fact that they are indeed pregnant, therefor ignoring the proper care that she needs for the growing baby inside of her. There are no easy answers; that’s one thing that everyone agrees on when it comes to the problem of teen pregnancy. The Center of Disease Control and prevention affirmed on June 26 what other agencies, such as the National Center for Health Statistics, have been saying over the course of this year: “The teen pregnancy rate is dropping. The number of teenage girls across the country who became pregnant fell 12 percent between 1991 and 1996. This drops affects girls, of different races and socioeconomic backgrounds, in all states. But the problem remains; The U.S. teen pregnancy rate is the highest of any industrialized countries. Babies born in the U.S. to teenager mothers are at risk for long-term problems in many major areas of life, including school failure, poverty, and physical or mental illness. The teenage mothers themselves are also at risk for these problems.