While I think you do have a point regarding the availability of reliable birth control methods I think it is also very important to address the fact that kids sometimes choose to get pregnant or they throw caution to the wind and say "If it happens, it happens, I don't care."
When I was a teenager there was (just 1 block from the abortion clinic) a free sexual health clinic staffed by volunteer nurse practitioners where girls could see a doctor and get birth control completely free up to the age of 19. Parents would not be informed, there were no financial need forms to be filled out, weekend and afternoon hours, etc., etc. It was even across the street from the mall, which would have given many kids a perfect excuse to be in the area.
This was a wonderful idea and a lifesaver for me personally, but nobody else ever went. I got same day appointments and never saw another girl in there. They closed down just after I got too old to go. They probably lost funding or some ridiculous law made them unable to operate, but there is the very real possibility they closed due to under use.
Most of the girls I know who got pregnant in high school wanted to. This is certainly not true of all of them, but a majority did. They knew how not to and they had ways not to, but they actively decided to ignore that. I think that's kind of an important factor to focus on.
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While I think you do have a point regarding the availability of reliable birth control methods I think it is also very important to address the fact that kids sometimes choose to get pregnant or they throw caution to the wind and say "If it happens, it happens, I don't care."
When I was a teenager there was (just 1 block from the abortion clinic) a free sexual health clinic staffed by volunteer nurse practitioners where girls could see a doctor and get birth control completely free up to the age of 19. Parents would not be informed, there were no financial need forms to be filled out, weekend and afternoon hours, etc., etc. It was even across the street from the mall, which would have given many kids a perfect excuse to be in the area.
This was a wonderful idea and a lifesaver for me personally, but nobody else ever went. I got same day appointments and never saw another girl in there. They closed down just after I got too old to go. They probably lost funding or some ridiculous law made them unable to operate, but there is the very real possibility they closed due to under use.
Most of the girls I know who got pregnant in high school wanted to. This is certainly not true of all of them, but a majority did. They knew how not to and they had ways not to, but they actively decided to ignore that. I think that's kind of an important factor to focus on.
January 17, 2010 - 8:03amThis Comment
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