...sixty-two percent of women in the United States use some form of birth control, according to a 2006- 2010 study (Jones). In 1950 a lady in her late eighties named, Margaret Sanger, wrote the research for the first human birth control pill, raising up to fifteen thousand dollars for the research for the project (Thompson). The first oral contraceptive was approved by the FDA ten years later (Thompson). In 1972, The Supreme Court legalized the use of birth control for the couples that are married (Thompson). With the expansion of availability, many more versions of birth control were released (Thompson). Birth control should be available to girls 15 and older, should be free and with it being free it would lessen unplanned...
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... Are contraceptives and birth control appropriate or inappropriate to offer high school students ? Recently The Department of Education has inaugurated a pilot program called CATCH { Connecting Adolescents To Comprehensive Health} made to curb the alarming rates teen pregnancy here in New York City . Although students throughout the nation has had condoms at their dispense people are now outraged by program which allows the school nurse to administer plan B an emergency contraceptive known as the morning after pill as well as birth control through the form of injection and orally . This can be done without the consent of the parents unless they’ve chosen to opt their children out of the program. People like the executive director Greg Pfundstien, of the Chiaroscuro Foundation, one of the anti- abortion groups feel it’s unethical and doubts that this program will work. Says Jonathan Allen of the Reuters an online news source . Although abortion groups may view the morning after pill as a form of abortion when in essence it is simply a high dosage of the actual birth control pill , which can be taken up to seventy-two hours after intercourse , to halt pregnancy . The morning after pill is a freedom of women’s right’s even though high school students are minor’s they should still have access to contraceptives that are safe to use and are preventive measures against teen pregnancy this will eliminate...
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...inform you about birth control and hope to persuade you that teenage girls should legally be able to receive birth control without parental consent. After writing about and researching this issue, I have gained the appropriate knowledge to inform others on my position. This has been a controversial topic for decades, spread all around the world.Unstable parental relationships, ensuring feelings of confidence and safety in girls, and lowering the rate of abortions are among the reasons I believe that girls should have access to birth control without parental consent, because it would be safe for girls to prevent pregnancy while empowering young girls to be more responsible and educated. First, it is important to know information...
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...Teen Pregnancy Teens that are pregnant face unique problems. One, being a teen and being pregnant hold it’s on risk. In addition, teens who are mothers at an early age often have the fact that he or she is a parent interfere with his or her education, there are also problems involving social opportunities and employment options. Special problems that pregnant teenagers encounter are the financing of the pregnancy, the right to abort the fetus while being a minor, and the option to give the child up for adoption. These problems are unique to this population because many adults do not encounter these issues. Minors usually need the consent of at least one parent or other authorized adult to receive medical treatment but minors in certain situations can consent to some types of reproductive health and pregnancy related treatment on their own behalf. If a minor is getting treatment with the help of insurance, then the parent of the minor is involved and is aware of the services received. If the minor is concerned about involving his or her parents, other resources for payment are sought. Clinics such as Planned Parenthood provide assistance in family planning, abortion, and pregnancy services. The Adolescent Family Life Program is a free program available in California. All pregnant and parenting teens are eligible regardless of income. In addition, case management is provided to minor parents to help them access services which include medical services, child care, nutritional...
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...Birth Control: Availability to Teens. Many teenagers today are very sexually active and take the risk that comes with sexual intercourse. Education is our number once source in getting sexual information out to our teens: “We have got to start educating our teenagers by introducing the ABC's for sexual education. "A-abstinence; B-be faithful; C-latex condoms." (Rosenthal 113). A type of contraceptive, also called birth control, is to do just that: control birth. Teen and teen births are greatly rising over the years due to lack of education, contraceptives, and finances. Teenagers now days do not wait till a certain age to become sexually active, more and more teens are starting at a younger age. Whether they are having sex or engaging in another form of sexual activity. “The principle behind age-of-consent law is that teens below a certain age are not mature enough to make an intelligent decision about engaging in sexual activity. Twenty-six states set the age of consent for medical making decisions at twelve years of age, yet no state sets the age sexual consent at less than sixteen. Some states provide no provisions for sexual relations between teens of the same age, provided that they are older than twelve, but there is always a penalty if one of the partners is a certain number of years older. Teens are no better prepared to make decisions about their medical health; so then the school or other public authority should inform the parents. Supporters of the lower age...
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...where in most cases, parents are the personal representatives for their children. Since young children may not make sound judgment and parents provide for them financially, many agree parents should be able to make medical decisions and have disclosure of their child’s medical records. However, there is a gray area that is illustrated in the case concerning the 14-year-old patient requesting oral contraceptives. Over recent years, it has been recognized by many state governments and the U.S. Supreme Court that many minors will forgo important sexual and reproductive healthcare services while still being sexual active if parental involvement is mandatory (An Overview of Minors’ Consent Law, 2014). The main argument revolves around whether minors can provide informed consent. There are individuals who argue that competency and maturity are not automatically bestowed at the age of 18, therefore to withhold privacy rights for minors would be wrong (Minors’ Access to Contraceptive Services, 2014). In the court case Carey v. Population Services International, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the "right to privacy in connection with decisions affecting procreation extends to minors as well as adults (Carey v. Population Servs. Int'l, 1977). Currently, there are 26 states and the District of Columbia who permits all minors aged 12 and older to consent to contraceptive, prenatal, and STI services while 20 states allow certain categories of minors to consent to these services (An...
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...and Sex: Should Birth Control Be Readily Available Teenagers and Sex: Should Birth Control Be Readily Available? Of the many controversies that have affected the United States in the past 100 years, birth control devices have been one of the more significant. Some common birth control devices are male and female condoms and the birth control pill. Both of these devices protect against pregnancy and the male and female condoms protect against sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and HIV. This arouses the question should teenagers be allowed to obtain these devices without parental consent. The answer is yes. Teenagers should be able to obtain birth control devices without their parents’ permission. There are countless reasons why birth control devices should be available to everyone. Among these reasons are the number and effects of teenage pregnancy, the right to privacy and living a disease free life. Every 31 seconds a teenager is reported pregnant and approximately 70 percent do not receive the proper care they need. When a teenager becomes pregnant a lot of problems follow soon after. Some of these problems are due to the teenager's physical immaturity, the fact that they are still growing and poor nutrition. Pregnant teenagers need extra care in the way of psychological and emotional support. Living in the United States we have the right to privacy. If teenagers choose to engage in sexual activity without making the situation known to their parents that is their...
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...that Teenage pregnancy is having a negative impact on our community. The effects of pregnancy on a teenager can be intense and long-lasting, not only physical but emotional and psychological; they are lifelong. Teenage pregnancy is one of the loudest problems in our community and the community should responds to such problem with creative solution such as birth control, providing more options to pregnant teenagers, educating both parent and teenagers about sex. First, Teenagers are engaging in sexually activities at a very high rate and they need a way to prevent unwanted pregnancy. The distribution of birth control amongst teens is a much-needed practice. Many adults do not agree with the idea of birth control, because they feel that their teenagers will be more sexually active. Providing birth control to teenagers only increases a teenager’s responsibility, not sexuality. Teenagers should also be allowed to obtain birth control devices without parental consent in order to practice safe sex. Parents don’t have to constantly worry that their teenagers will come home pregnant either by consensual sex or rape. Some birth control does not only prevent unwanted pregnancy, it also helps prevent sexually transmitted diseases. Second, successful...
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...Choose one of the following topics as they relate to children and adolescents: Teen Pregnancy Federal and State Laws in Regard to Teen Pregnancy Although the Supreme Court recognizes a minor’s right to some measure of reproductive freedom, once a teenager becomes pregnant, her choice to obtain a medical abortion is more constrained than it is to obtain contraceptives (Durcan & Appell, 2001). Minors may only obtain an abortion if their parents’ consent or a judge permits the abortion (Silverstein, 1999). Age of consent for a female or male to have sex in Georgia is 16. If a minor becomes pregnant she can marry the father but her parents have to sign the consent form and in some counties the judge has to sign the order also. In Georgia teens must inform their parents of an abortion but do not have to get consent. Noted in 2004, Sanger states “Thirty-four US states currently require pregnant minors either to notify their parents or get their consent before having a legal abortion” (p. 35). I facilitate a sex offender class so we are constantly discussing laws when in pertains to age of consent. Many are afraid of getting involved with a minor with fake ID and looks older. How do these laws affect your role as a human service provider? These laws affects my role as a human service provider in more ways than one. I will have to counsel the pregnant female, parents, and father of the child. This will be an issue because if she is a minor and the male is an adult I will have to...
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...tells her mom what happened and that is what everyone who is sexualy active needs to do is to tell their parents, even though they do not want...
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...to try and deter women from aborting. In order to fully protect the rights of women, state governments must not interfere in a woman’s decision to abort. State government limits on abortion threaten women’s safety. Limiting abortion only contributes to women obtaining illegal, unsafe, and potentially fatal abortions worldwide; therefore, the government must not interfere in a woman’s private and personal choice to abort. Safe abortions performed by trained health care providers are safer than giving birth. The chance of developing any major complication following a safe abortion is one in 200. Nearly 20 million unsafe abortions occur each year due to abortion being limited, resulting in 13% (67,000) of pregnancy-related deaths yearly (Reproductive Health Module: Section IV Abortion). The evidence proves that legal abortions are safe since there exists only a one in 200 chance in developing any major complications after having one and also since they are safer than giving birth. It also proves how...
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...Teens and the outcome based on the laws on minors and abortion If you had a teenage daughter, how would you feel if she came home and said she was pregnant? Many teens fear to bring home a bad report card, getting in trouble at school, or even bringing home the boyfriend. Although, these are reasonable fears, the fear of telling your parents you’re pregnant at 13 is greater. Often the answer to teenage pregnancy is abortion, or illegal abortion. In many states, abortion is difficult to receive without parental consent. The laws that state this make it harder on the pregnant teen and unborn baby. If teen abortion was allowed without parental consent, there would be a lower mortality rate of teen moms and babies. Sadly, the age of sexually active teens lowers each year. When there is an unplanned pregnancy, teens are scared, and unsure as what to do. When abortion is considered it is a choice normally influenced by where she lives, beliefs, friends, fear of telling parents, abuse, if there are any places for teens to go for pregnancy, and even situations involving the pregnancy. Abortion is a tough subject for many. I myself do not believe in having an abortion, but that does not mean I’m against others in having the choice. There are places teens can go to get help in whatever they decide to do. Planned Parenthood Federation of America is one place that teens can go to and get the advice and help with whatever choice they may make. This is their statement on abortion,...
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...In the United States, the age of consent is an issue among teens, and how old they should be before having intercourse. The topic is debated on left and right by parents, authorities, and counselors. Some people say that children are not mentally ready for sex or telling them all of the negative sides of sex. Some parents support the idea of teens having sexual intercourse. Then, are people trying to stop it to help prevent teen pregnancies and have them ruin your life. Our nation needs to have a better idea of what consent really is instead of just saying no and listing all of the negative sides of sex. There are many variations and laws in the United States about the age of consent and what it should be. All across the US, the age of consent...
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... ALLOWED TO HAVE ORAL CONTRACEPTION WITHOUT PARENTAL CONSENT? America, titled the greatest country in the world is crawling in so much debt and we the people can not only see it around us but we feel it in our homes and our pockets. 'On 13 December 2012, debt held by the public was approximately $11.579 trillion or about 73% of GDP. Intra-governmental holdings stood at $4.791 trillion, giving a combined total public debt of $16.370 trillion the highest amount of debt we have ever grossed since the beginning of U.S history'.(Wikipedia. (2012). United States public debt. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt). But in 2008 alone we spent about 11 billion dollars on teenage pregnancies. THESIS STATEMENT: RESEARCH SUGGEST THAT HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO HAVE ORAL CONTRACPETION WITHOUT PARENTAL CONSENT BECAUSE THIS WILL HELP REDUCE THE OCCURANCE AND RISK ASSOCIATED WITH TEEN PREGNANCY AND ABORTION AND REDUCE THE FINANCIAL BURDEN ON TAX PAYERS. MAIN POINTS: Easier access to to oral contraception will reduce the occurrence of unwanted and unplanned pregnancies and abortions and the risks associated with abortion and high risk pregnancies.'Making oral contraceptive pills...
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...I chose to investigate sexual education because it is a policy area that hits close to home. Sexual Education is an issue with many facets, but it falls under the larger umbrella of reproductive freedom. Many people would consider themselves either pro-life or pro-choice, but there is also a middle section that is less defined. This section is present because of cases like rape, health difficulties, or future health of the baby. With education, it is less black and white in the eyes of the general populace. Further, sides are frequently taken due to religious beliefs. Education is typically a more local issue, but it has a large impact on the rate of pregnant teens, which ultimately funnels into the debate over abortion. More specifically, the federal government has to take action on both abortion and sexual education because of their inter-connectedness. With that said, the focus of my policy is primarily the need for comprehensive sexual education. I work for the American Civil Liberties Union, and within this I am a part of TACL. The point of this group is to focus on civil liberties for students. With the passage of the abstinence only bill in Tennessee, I feel as though my liberties have been taken. I believe that you cannot stop students from doing what is natural by not teaching them about it or teaching them about protection. Studies show that in states with abstinence only education laws, the pregnancy rate is much higher. I want to focus my research on...
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