April 6, 2013
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Plan B For 13 Year Olds
A federal judge has ordered that the morning-after pill be made available for all women of any age. This would include girls under 17. Here is the link: LinkA 13 year old girl would be able to walk into a store and get Plan B without a prescription.Should a 13-year-old have access to Plan B?
Comments (96)
Absolutely.
^agreed
@randaness - can you explain to me why you think this?
Yeah… I have to say… Yes.
should 13 year olds have sex?
No. It is a shame that people think a 13 year old should be making such decisions on their own. Unless, of course, she wants to smoke a cigarette. In THAT case she needs all sorts of influence. God forbid she smoke. But making babies, well, you can’t really stop her, so…..
Absolutely NOT.
I wish someone had given one to Ko Young-hee. Go ahead, google search her.
I feel that it should require parents or guardians to be involved. If a child under 18 can’t buy cigarettes or get a tattoo, or technically watch a rated R movie then why would it be okay to get Plan B without the same type of involvement?
@light_blue_fables - Is endorsing the availability of contraception also endorsing thirteen-year-olds having sex? No. It’s also not endorsing incest, rape, broken condoms, forgetfulness in regards to other birth control, heat-of-the-moment sex, etc. If someone is using emergency contraception it is because they are already in a less-than-best-case scenario, and that’s no reason – no reason at all – to argue that people shouldn’t be allowed to keep it from becoming the worst-case scenario.
Sadly yes. My mom works at a pregnancy/women’s crisis center, it upsets her so much when 12-13 year olds come in with their babies. These girls are kids having kids. I don’t even know at 12-13 if girls know what proper birth control is or what to do when they need Plan B. Some girls my mom works with seriously are so educationally challenged they don’t know what a condom is or that you can have more than two babies. One girl she works with has 2 kids at 16 and is pregnant with her third, she didn’t know she could get pregnant again.
I can’t think of ANY scenario where a 13 year old could possibly be in the position to be considering that where no responsible adults need to know about it.
Yes.
@kuai_le1011 - I might also argue that for regular birth control, but this is EMERGENCY contraception. Certainly it’s often used by women who have engaged in consensual sex, but it can also be used in cases of rape and incest. There are children who are raped by their parents or by trusted adults (it’s usually not a stranger) – it would be absolutely cruel to require them to have parental permission first, in my opinion.
I wasn’t having sex at thirteen, but if I was, I’d much rather been a teen taking plan b than a teen having a baby.
Yes.
with the parent’s permission
@randaness - but wouldn’t it be smarter for those girls to be able to go to place like planned parenthood without parental permission instead of just throwing the birth control pill on the shelf?
going to go with yes.
@kuai_le1011 – Assuming they have access to planned parenthood and parental support. They’re not old enough to drive, and if the nearest such facility is a fair distance and they don’t have an adult they can trust to take them there, they can’t get access to those services. They more likely can go to a drug store, though.
Gods yes! Something like this would have been a sanity saver after I had been raped close before my thirteenth birthday. I was so terrified of becoming pregnant and my fundamentalist Christian mother finding out I had sex because ‘sex outside marriage is a sin’ that I spent several weeks downing ibuprofen and cough syrup because I had heard somewhere that someone had self-aborted using pills and alcohol. Those seemed the closest equivalent I could get my hands on without anyone knowing and I continued until I had my next period.
@kuai_le1011 - That’d be great. But Planned Parenthoods aren’t everywhere – pharmacies more or less are. Also, it’s a little different from actual birth controls. It’s just two pills, not a long-term hormonal therapy like birth control, and it has fewer side effects than birth control. I do think that a woman taking a long-term birth control should get counseling from a doctor first on the options and risks, but Plan B is pretty darn safe (a pediatrician and a fellow of Physicians for Reproductive Health says less dangerous than, say, a bottle of Tylenol).
@light_blue_fables - In what sense of the definition?
Hell yes. That shit should be every where.
I don’t agree with this even in the slightest. unless you start providing regular birth control pills to girls of all ages without prescription or gyno exam or parental consent, then this shouldn’t be offered, either. it’s the same thing. pharmacists have a responsibility to protect the people they give drugs to. who gets sued when a young girl dies because she bought a plan B behind her parents’ back? I guarantee it won’t be that judge.
Yes
As a parent, i still have to sign permission forms for my 16 year old daughter to be able to take over-the-counter medications, like Ibuprofen for headache, at school, and I have to specific which, how much, is she allowed to carry it, is it kept in the office, etc. Her doctor has to fill out forms for her asthma medication every year, as well. I think I’d want to know what kind of medication she is taking no matter what it is, for safety’s sake.
I could also say that 13 year olds shouldn’t be having sex, but sadly, many are anyway, and this isn’t going to change that.
It would seem to me that the girls someone mentioned above who didn’t know anything about birth control and keep having babies and didn’t know you could have more than one, also wouldn’t know about something like this or be able to take it correctly anyway.
I do think it would be a good thing for a young girl to be able to get ahold of in case of rape or incest; I wonder how it’s going to be made available or if there is any guidance given to those purchasing it.
My answer is no. In many states, school nurses can’t even give a student non-prescription medication for something as simple as a fever without parental consent. If not that, why on earth would it be okay to give Plan B without parents knowing about it? If something goes wrong, the parents are the ones held legally responsible for their child’s health. That is why they need to know about it.
@snarkius - @leaflesstree - It should even be allowed in an emergency room. Most towns have those. Or, they can get it at a pharmacy but not off the shelf. I am not anti-abortion I just see so many cons to it. First, if a girl has to take the pills several times, it should be traceable in her medical records so that if there is sexual abuse taking place, it can be looked into.
@kuai_le1011 - Emergency rooms require steep co-pays, though. It would be nice if could be traceable in medical records, although there again you run into steeper costs because of co-pays and whatnot. Maybe making it available through schools would be nice.
@firetyger - exactly my thoughts.
@randaness - technically, I’m wrong but it should only be taken under worst case scenario / emergency situations. I think there is real potential for it to be abused when readily accessible by children who can’t vote or drink or do much of ANYTHING without their parent’s consent.
Also, in response to your previous comment about it being cruel to require parental consent if the parent is the one abusing the child. Quoted from the article: “”There is a real danger that Plan B may be given to young girls, under coercion or without their consent. The involvement of parents and medical professionals act as a safeguard for these young girls. However, today’s ruling removes these common-sense protections,” Anna Higgins, director of the organization’s Center for Human Dignity, said in a statement.” I think making Plan B more accessible just increases the potential for abuse by the child AND the adult abuser.
Hell to the no!
Yes, I think that if they are going to be having sex anyway then they should be able to get Plan B. I know 11 and 10 year olds on birth control so why would it make a difference?
@randaness - I had thought of that too but someone else mentioned that a school cannot even give students tylenol w/out parental consent. I could see a lot of legal issues rising from that. As far as the emergency room is concernd, it is very expensive and I agree with you on that. I wonder about walk-in clinics.They aren’t nearly as expensive but I don’t know many kids who have $70+ floating in their wallets.
There doesn’t seem to be a perfect alternative. I hate to think of the young rape or incest victims without any resources but then there is the aspect of those who will use it like tic tacs whenever they have unsafe sex too. I suppose kids any age can buy condoms so it is somewhat similar but then again, the morning after pill kills an embrio whereas condoms just kill sperm so then there would be a lot of hoopla about tha
@kuai_le1011 - the plan B pill is not the abortion pill. big difference.
@kuai_le1011 - The town where I grew up had a clinic like that, but it was only open on Tuesday and Thursdays. I agree, there’s no perfect alternative – it’s kind of the best solution for a less-than-best-case scenario. Which is kind of what emergency contraception is, anyway.
@Love_in_102 - I don’t remember saying it was…
@kuai_le1011 - so by embryo you meant egg?
@light_blue_fables - While technically true, I don’t think there’s a “real danger” of someone giving a child emergency contraception against their consent to cover up their tracks of abuse. If there is someone who would do that, it’s better if it’s Plan B instead of poison, anyway. Not really gonna trust Anna Higgins on this one. She’s a pro-life lawyer, not a doctor or a pediatrician or a social worker. I think that far more good will come of this than bad.
@kuai_le1011 - Plan B doesn’t work once you’re pregnant, which is why it’s only considered effective during the first 72 hours (which is why it’s so important that it’s available immediately, instead of having to wait for an appointment or clinic hours or something). In most cases, it simply either delays ovulation or prevents the fertilization of the egg in the first place. Worst case scenario, it alters the lining of the uterus making it more difficult for implantation to occur, but it’s still a zygote at that point and not an embryo.
@kuai_le1011 - I think you may have a misunderstanding on what the morning after pill does.To clear it up a bit:
An embryo is a fertilized egg. Meaning, the sperm has already reached the egg and about 8-10 weeks after fertilization, it’s considered an embryo. The morning after pill DOES NOT “kill” the embryo. The morning after pill is taken in emergency situations (e.g., the condom broke) and actually prevents fertilization. Also, a condom doesn’t “kill” sperm, either… It just.. collects it.
Really, the big “controversy” about the morning after pill is just hot steam by people who don’t understand it. It doesn’t kill anything, it prevents pregnancy.
Yes.
@randaness – @the_imperfect - I’ve been pregnant twice yet I forget the difference between zygote and embryo, shame on me. anyway, I am not against plan b, abortion,etc. It is’the age that’s the factor. Granted, it is horrible for girls at any age to be raped and beecome impregnated against their will. My point still being that there are advantages for some sort of tracking on theses things and some sort of accountability as far as perhaps the quantities/frequency of use.
@kuai_le1011 - While I think that would be beneficial, I also think that anyone who would find themselves needing Plan B on a regular basis would probably seek out other options (I don’t mean regular like every day, I mean basically more than a couple times). Unless they’re obtaining it from a Planned Parenthood, it would end up being more expensive than other birth control options. It might still happen, but I’m not sure that it would be a particularly common occurrence.
If it’s safe for that age. If the only objection is “BUT OMG SEX” I think it’s a bit narrow minded. What if the girl is a victim of incest? What if she’s raped? I don’t think the fact that Plan B is available is going to make 13 yr olds say, “OH, TIME TO GET SOME COCK NOW!!!” If that was the case, then should we ban condoms too?
@randaness - I’m mostly thinking of those who are molested over a long period of time. And there will be the inevitable ones who use it much more frequently than they should. It is less traceable than pills and you don’t have to take it every day at the same time to be effective just the days you have sex.
I still don’t know if I’m comfortable with it but I do see the necessity of it being available in some very horrible situations.
@kuai_le1011 - Yeah. It really is unfortunate that some people are in such horrible situations that would be benefited from some sort of observation
I hope for a world where Plan B won’t ever be nescesary for a 13 year old girl, but unfortunately that’s not the case. The drug still has a $40.00 price tag (and that’s on the low end), and I don’t know how many 13 year olds really have that laying around all the time, so I doubt this would be something that would be “depended on for regular birth control” as so many always seem to worry that it will be. Also, as long as it’s still being sold from behind the pharmacy counter with a RPh there to answer questions and explain the medication, I don’t really see an issue with taking the age limit off, assuming the drug has actually been FDA approved for younger ages.
I just think it’s awful that we have come to a point in our society where this is the norm.
@WithTheBirdIShare - I read that costs vary from$25 to $70…still pricey but not unnattainable. Also, anyone on Medicaid can get it for free.
At least if they had medicaid, it would be in their medical record. hmmmm
I say yes. I had a friend who, after 4 years of being friends, confessed to being forced to have intercourse with her older step brother on a weekly basis. He always used a condom, but what if he hadn’t? She could have gotten pregnant easily without an escape plan. This can also apply to a girl getting raped/date raped. For people who are leaving comments that say “It’s a shame that a parent would allow their kid to have sex at such a young age/girls shouldn’t be having sex that young” It’s not always easy to say no to it. You remember what it was like for you and your friends to be around the teenage angst when you were younger.
@ChainBracelets - right? I don’t know many parents who even want to think about their 13 year old kissing let alone the other. Some kids are going to do what they want to do and will find a way, I don’t think there’s a whole lot of “allowing” happening with young teen sex.
I on’t think teens should be having sex that young though.
@kuai_le1011 - No there is not. It makes me feel useless when I meet families who don’t educate their kids about sex and then expect them not to get involved in it. It’s like they’re jading them, and then throwing them out to the sharks. The only hole I see in Plan B being available to all audiences without parental consent is the fact that some teens are going to abuse the freedom. Maybe if there was a limit to how many times they could buy it off the shelf somehow incorporated, it might ease some of the tension.
Plan B (as well as regular hormonal birth control pills) are abortifacients. If there is a living fertilized egg (…a baby), it will be flushed out. This is abortion, like it or not.
Getting to first base used to mean you kissed someone. Nowadays getting to first base means you gave someone a rim job.
Anyone who views porn and gives the porn producers a reason to keep making it and the free-porn sites a reason to keep putting it on the internet, and any woman who conforms to societies view of how they should look, i.e, like a giant pre-pubescent girl, is to blame for all of this, so stop complaining because this is pretty much all of you.
the morning after pill shouldnt exist. abortion should be illegal
@ShimmerBodyCream - We should ban all teh condomz! Except for the bacon-flavored ones, because we should never ban bacon-flavored anything. Also, we should replace the condoms in bacon-flavored condoms with bacon. Then we’d have bacon-flavored bacon with extra bacon thrown on for good measure.
@mtngirlsouth - well yes, with the right protection or in the worst case scenario, the morning after pill
A 13 year old should have acces to it, even without her parents’ knoweledge… ideally after talking to a doctor.
My problem is that a potentially dangerous product and other “health products” are so freely availiable in normal stores, even without a warning. Contrary to alcohol and cigarettes. It doesn’t just apply to plan B, and isn’t just an issue for the young.
It could be availiable at doctors offices, pharmacies (in case they explain how to use it and the contra indications) or non profit organizations where the risks are also being explained.
Absolutely not.
And girls having sex at 12 or 13? Hell, even when I was a senior in high school I never even thought I was going to get my first kiss
Yep. I knew this girl in 8th grade who got pregnant. She could have used the pill. Don’t know why there is an age set for who can take the pill unless they’d rather want irresponsible people breeding. I knew this guy who had sex when he was 11. I was like ew why people think of this so early, but they do.
Of course!
Turn the tables….should a 13 yo. boy be allowed to go into a supermarket and buy condoms?
only if she is exposed to sperm; otherwise it won’t be needed.
I am pro-choice but I agree they should have medical advice and prescription before taking any drug. SO much can go wrong. Why do they want to do this? Not for rights BUT greed and money.
I agree with what @Love_in_102 - says about this. To say that this is a drug that is as safe as Tylenol is giving the public the idea that any girl can take it without fear of dangerous side effects. And what about continued use as a contraceptive? Just looking at what the pill can do makes it obvious that it shouldn’t be taken without a doctor’s best judgment in each individual case. As stated above, who will be held liable in cases where something serious results from taking PlanB?
Ithink they should be able to, but I also believe that kids should have the repercussions of the crap they pull in their lives.they are only 13, and if they don’t learn that there are some things that feel good that will really mess up your plans for the future, then it could lead them to really doing something they will regret for a while.
I feel that if you’re a teenager, and not married, you still should not have sex, and if you do I think you shouldn’t be allowed to have preventions to pregnancy. You do you receive.
but that won’t ever happen, so my beliefs are just beliefs.
Welcome to the redefinition of “consent.”
Xanga’s libs have railed at me and even called me LoBorn for proposing that if we can redefine marriage to include gays and every other sexual preference under the sun, why can’t we redefine “consent” to include children and animals.
Such liberality and equality will usher in a whole new world of sexual justice don’t you know.
This is dumb. Yes it should be allowed why would you restrict anyone from helping themselves? That’s just stupid.
What we should really be talking about is the announcement of “Finding Dory”! That movie’s gonna kick ass!
@Shadowrunner81 - Haven’t googled her yet. Is she the mother of Kim Jong-Un?
@Marica0701 - Yes, yes they are.
Look, I was a shy girl in high school. Didn’t get my first kiss until college, … but even back then I knew girls were having sex at a younger age than myself.
Do you want to punish 13-year-olds because they “got lucky” before you did? That’s ….. really sad.
Yes.
A fetus might be a person, but a zygote most definitely is not.
@NightCometh – please share where you got this information.
@LimeGreenChocolate – if you want to ban the
morning after pill, then you have to ban monthly birth control pills as well as condoms.
@Love_in_102 - I am just very conservative and believe in anti abortion no sex before marriage…not to offend anybody’
I think yes. Because what if a 13 year old girl gets raped. So that she doesn’t have to get pregnant at a young age. And if they cant tell there parents right away. Cause that there to afraid to tell them. Or if one of the parents did rape the kid who was 13 or 12 and cant tell there other parent. Cause that they might think that they wont believe them. And they might think there kid is lying to them about it. But I do think that that what parents should is take time to sit down with your kids and tell them that you can get pregnant really easily. And telling them how serious it is to have a kid. And how that when your at a young age. And you cant really go and do stuff like you use to once you have a kid. And I no that probably some kid cant have kids. Cause of some certain reason. But you never no if once they do have sex they might get pregnant. And I just think parents need to just sit down with there kids and talk to them how serious it really is on having a kid a the responsibilities that they have. And try to make them understand. And I no some people would thing that if they do give there kids condoms or birth control that there giving there kids permission to have sex. But its preventing them to have kids. Cause all teenagers are gonna have sex sometime in there lives. And the girls should have a right to get birth control. Cause to regulate there periods to.
Yes. And also the regular pill.
And condoms.
That pill!!! Ugh bad memories… But the alternative would be a bit heavier… So yes I think that any precaution .. Even if its wrong to be doing such thing at 13 …
I can’t say much I started young too.. 15 isn’t a far cry from thirteen…
Depends! If you let 13-years-olds have sex, then you should let them have birth control too. Plan B – or whatever.
If you don’t let 13-year-olds have sex then you don’t have to worry about this question.
Or what? The old coat hanger method?
no and when did 13 year old kids become women and when did it become legal for them to be able to get this stuff without parental consent. No wonder kids are growing up way to fast.
@phoebester - Yes she is.
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Absolutely. Babies shouldn’t be forced to raise babies because our society is obsessed with pro-birth.
Yes. But regular birth control should be just as available. Not that girls should be having sex at that age, but its a fact of life that there are always males around that DO take advantage of young girls and those girls should not be left alone to suffer the consequences of that.
@LimeGreenChocolate – I completely understand, just wanted to clarify what the intentions of your comment were
I know in some cultures and in history females have been married young. However, I think a 13 year old really doesn’t know what they are doing when they get into a situation where they are put at risk of pregnancy. Given their involvement was a mistake, I think they should have access to a remedy. But who is going to educate them so they know what to get and how to take it? On the other hand, I think women OVER THE AGE OF CONSENT should need a medical appointment and prescription!
Anyone who can afford it should be able to buy any pill that they want.
that’s almost a green light for sex. and then what if that doesn’t work?
kids need to be kids
It is a sad thing when all you people feel it is ok for sex at 13 because your agreeing with the morning after plan. If most state laws were followed having sex at 13 means you have committed a crime in most states. But I guess it is ok to have sex at 13. Too bad. Whom is fitting the bill for the morning after pill the Tax payer you and I. I think if you want sex then you should pay the price.
What we need is to have the Bible taught and we would learn what is right and wrong. Bro. Doc
@kuai_le1011 - To get it to go through Medicaid, one would have to obtain a prescription from the doctor and the pharmacy would fill it like any other prescription and bill insurance, like Medicaid. I’m guessing someone would have to have some type of prescription insurance coverage to get it at those lower prices too. But even if someone has Medicaid, that doesn’t help them when they’re purchasing the drug over the counter. If a 13 year old (or anyone) was to just walk up to the counter of a pharmacy and ask for it, they will have to be charged the full price. You can’t bill insurance without a prescription. Where I worked as a pharmacy tech, the pill was $39.99 for the generic and $49.99 for the name brand, “Plan B”.
What I can’t understand is how people seem to think it should be available to 13 yr old girls with no questions asked. If a 13yr old girl goes to get this pill from somewhere, should it be accepted as norm that she needs the Plan B pill? Why should a 13 yr old be given a pill to prevent conception with nobody asking why it’s needed? If she’s being sexually victimized, it’s probably not going to stop because of the Plan B pill, so should nobody intervene, more so people in healthcare? If someone did intervene then shouldn’t the parents eventually end up knowing? Or would all the girls above want it kept from them if their 13 yr old daughters were possibly victims of sexual abuse? Or would it be okay if their daughters were having unprotected sex as children?
We just keep becoming more and more accepting of whatever in this society. I wonder if the youth in societies where teen promiscuity is frowned upon and unheard of have two heads, or if their parents are from outer space.
No. It’s much better if 13 year old girls have babies.
still believe parents have a right to know, as a BARE minimum to anything affecting their children, until they hit of legal adult status.
b/c if anything happens to that child before she/he hits adulthood, who gets the financial, moral, etc responsibility to take care of that child? the parents.
if you’re gonna screw the parents in this area, we are basically saying as a country, that your child’s upbringing is determined by the State, not you. Very dangerous path we are heading.
I want more and more articles and blogs please post soon such informative information.
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