Birth Control : Should Teenage Girls Need Parental Consent

Birth Control : Should Teenage Girls Need Parental Consent

Having babies are a beautiful part of life, however, having babies at a young age can be quite a distraction in life. Even if a young teenage girl is well-intentioned and determined to do the best she can for her child, she may face tremendous economic and social obstacles. Therefore, it is always good to have an option avoiding that, contraceptive methods can prevent the pregnancy until the time is right. Freely accessible birth control prevents pregnancy, abortion, and helps adolescents make an informed and safe decision on whether or not to participate in sexual activities. Therefore, I think teenage girls, at the appropriate age, should be able to receive birth control without parental consent. With this choice, many teens could gain access to birth control which practices safe sex.

The history of birth control is very complex, but there are many key concepts to the history of birth control that should be known. Around 3000 B.C. the first major contraceptives made were condoms and diaphragms, but as the sexual behavior developed birth control became the next best thing. In 1916, Margaret Sanger was the one who opened the first birth control clinic in the United States. Although Margaret faced severe charges for doing so, eventually a judge lifted the federal ban on birth control, which ended the Comstock era in 1938. In this time, diaphragms, known as a cervical barrier, became a popular method of birth control. In her early 80s, Sanger wrote the research in order to create the first human birth control pill. In 1965, the Supreme Court gave married couples the right to use birth control, however, millions of unmarried women were still denied birth control. Also, many feminists were concerned and challenged the safety of oral contraceptives (the Pill) at Congressional hearings. In result, the pill was altered to make safer for the use. In 1972, the Supreme Court legalized birth control for all citizens, despite their marital status. "The oral contraceptive ("the pill") is the most common contraceptive method and most popular method for women" (1630 Taylor).

One of the main points we should consider in today's time consist of the thought that teenagers are going to do what they want regardless of what they are told. In more specific words, if a child is driven to participate in sexual activities they will do so. You were a teenager once and you remember being rebellious at one point in your life whether it was not putting your clothes away like your mother asked you to, or sneaking out to a party that you knew your mother wouldn't approve of. Most parents don't approve of their child getting on birth control because they believe that is opening up a gateway allowing their child to have sex. Truth be told most children will begin to experience sexual activities on their own time regardless if their parents approve or not. When a teenager participates in unprotected sex, they are increasing their risks of becoming pregnant. "In the U.S. 50% of all pregnancies are unplanned" (Taylor 1627). Therefore, to practice responsible sexuality among adolescence, they should have a choice to take birth control, regardless if their parent approves of it.

Some parents aren't always responsible when it comes to talking to their child and giving them the correct sexual education needed, and this is considered communication failure between a parent and adolescence, which is very common within today's time. Usually parents feel uncomfortable about talking to their child about sexual activity or they are neglectful and don't care much about what their child does. Due to communication failure, many teens think that birth control prevents against STDs and they aren't educated that birth control is only 99.9% effective if it's taken correctly. Also, another point to consider would be the single fathers raising their teenage daughters. In some cases, this can create a very uncomfortable atmosphere if the father tries to approach his daughter about sexual activities. More than likely, the daughter will not go to her father and asked to be put on birth control either. Although, if birth control was accessible without parental consent then the daughter could just freely go sign up for birth control and receive it without causing an awkward situation between her and her father. Many teenagers won't go out and tell their parent they are participating in sexual activities and they need to be introduced to some type of contraceptive, "many minors will not avail themselves of important services if they are forced to involve their parents" (guttmacher.com). A result of failure to educate teenage girls about sex education would be pregnancy.