Lots of moms would shriek at the site of a Playboy Magazine in their son's room, but really that is peanuts compared to finding the morning after pill in your daughter's room.
I remember hearing about the girls in high school who would be having abortions. I never quite understood how that all worked thinking could they really just go somewhere and have an abortion? Didn't they need their parents to know about this and consent? It all just seemed too easy to me. Still to this day I really don't know how they went about it...didn't ask.
Today I think things have gotten even easier for teens. I will first say that I certainly don't think the morning after pill is the same as an abortion. I have no problem with this Plan B pill and think it can be good for certain circumstances.
What I do have a problem with is the accessibility of the pill to teens. At 17 year's old a girl can go into a drug store and buy Plan B. This is without a parent's consent, without anything.
I guess on the other hand you could say they can go into a drug store and buy condoms too, and we don't think all that much of this. True. But plan B is a medication. A medication that doesn't come without side effects. From what I have heard it is not like taking a simple aspirin and can be dangerous.
There is also the issue of Plan B making girls less likely to think twice as it is very easy to 'fix' it.
Not to mention, as a mom I think this is not encouraging parental involvement. Are we not supposed to be encouraging kids to talk to their moms? This skips over that step entirely.
What do you think? How would you feel if you found out your daughter had taken the morning after pill without you knowing about it? Do you think teens should have this so readily accessible to them?
Plan B - should your teen need your permission?
Posted by Dalia (Generation X Mom) Labels: morning after pill, teens
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16 opinions:
I can see both sides of it. I understand the need for Plan B. But that is just the thing, it is supposed to be a plan b... not plan a. I would much rather my daughter (if I have one) to be on BCP and use condoms, rather than just go and pop a Plan B pill anytime she wants.
It is sad to say that we need to keep parents out of the loop when it comes to this kind of thing, because they may force their daughter to keep the child or do something against her will, which wouldn't help the situation.
I think it should be an option for teens as well as adults, but I feel like a parent should have to get it for their daughter. That way the teen is less likely to use it as a safety net or the 1st line of protection. I would be scared to take it, so I would definately let my daughter know about all the risks involved AND that it's not fail proof. Girls should be taught to always use 2 forms of protection - BC to protect against pregnancies and condoms to protect against diseases. The morning after pill should not be used on a regular basis, if at all. I hate they have commercials on it that make it look like it's no big deal.
This is a difficult one. It is frightening to think of your child using medications you are not aware of and though I understand that many girls don't feel they can trust their parents, I believe anything that can endanger them should be under a parents supervision. I'm even required to accompany my daughter to eye appointments. At the same time I know there are girls who feel they are trapped in a situation where they strongly disagree with their parents viewpoint and pregnancy is a life changing issue.
I would feel sick inside and my heart would drop if I found that. I don't know how I feel about its availability, though. Need to think on that.
I have a 15-year old daughter and since she was a little girl I have encouraged her to talk to me. I tell her over and over again that my door is always open and she can talk to me about anything.
She still doesn't.
That being said, if I were to find out that she had taken the Plan B pill, that would certainly open the door for a conversation. Better late than never, I guess. I don't have an issue with the pill being accessible to 17-year olds.
I have a big problem with that kind of accessibility. It leaves too much room for that pill to be used as a form of birth control and not for it's intended emergency situation purpose.
Disclaimer: My daughter is 3, so my opinion on this may change.
Opinion: I am okay with it being accessible. I believe that a 17-year-old girl should be able to control her reproduction just as an adult would.
I say this as the type of parent who plans to openly discuss sex, birth control, and responsibility with my children. I pray that my intention to raise them to think first, and then come to me if they didn't, will be enough to keep them from using something like this as a birth control method.
But just as I don't believe that most teens/women use abortion as birth control, I don't think they'd use Plan B as BC. In fact, in a recent poll in my area conducted by the County, fewer than 1% of our local teens are even aware of Plan B.
Therefore, just because something is available doesn't mean kids know about it. The same stigma attached to buying condoms would be attached to buying the Plan B pill.
I don't have a teen daughter yet (mine's only 2) However, I think it's great that it's available. I'd much rather she take that then the alternative.
And what's the difference if she's 17 or 18? I mean ONE year is going to make her an adult?
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Stopping in from LBTP...fellow GenXer too, and I love how you're asking the tough questions. Right now, speaking as a mom of a little girl, I'd like to think I'd have enough say in my daughter's prescriptions as I will in her schooling, until she reaches age 18. That being said, I am realistic to know that it may not happen that way. I'd rather her have a choice and information than feel she has *no* options. So I guess I am fencesitting :). I'd like to see accessibility with some sort of controls in place. Not easy to implement, though!
I wasn't aware they could just go get it. I thought they had to see a doctor. I used it once (although I was over 20) but went to a Teen Health Centre to see a doctor to get it. My parents didn't need to know because I could go there myself but I still had to see a doctor so they could explain the effects and that it wasn't to be used all the time and that we should have used protection etc...
Oh forgot to say I'm from the Lady Blogger Tea Party.
Plan B pills should be just as accessible as birth control pills - as in, a teen will need parental consent until they're 18. I agree with you, by making these pills so accessible it completely takes out the step where the daughter confides in her mother, which further divides families internally and pulls them apart. There's no restraint, no self-respect, no trust. Let's just say, if I found out my daughter had used Plan B, I would be very disappointed and hurt. It bothers me that kids so young think they can be so adult with the little bit of life experience they have - not that all children have the same life experiences, but even if some children have harder experiences than others that she be the more reason for them to need guidance and care than independence.
That is such a tough one and could always depend on the household. My son never needed my permission and when he did finally buy one it wasn't bad. I even looked through it and thought it was rather tasteful and it was not pornographic.
Although the topic about a teen girl being on the BC without the permission of a parent is a tough one. Parents ought to also be more understanding. Maybe than there would be less teen pregnancies if a girl could talk to her mom?
I would hope that I had the kind of relationship where she wouldn't hide it from me. Still I can remember being a teenager enough to know that I was embarrassed to talk about sex with my mom. We had a very close relationship and I wanted nothing to do with the conversation.
I'd be upset, but if she needed it, I'd rather have her take it than become a premature grandma.
New follower here. I am really liking the topics of your posts. I can't wait to see more.
Kim
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