The Morning After Pill
| Author | Message |
|---|---|
| druscilla. Bleeding on the Floor  Age: 36 Gender: Female Posts: 1671 | If you are over the age of 18, you can buy this drug. Other than that, you have to have a prescription. I think that is completely and totally wrong. Kids should not have to go to their parents to get this pill if they need it. They should be able to go into the drugstore and purchase it themselves. It's just like any other contraceptive. There should not be an age limit. Discuss. |
| Casimir Pulaski Day Shotgun Sinner  Age: 94 Gender: Female Posts: 8861 | I think there might be an age limit because it may not be safe for little girls? But, it should be avaliable. Some girls who have sex don;t have anybody to turn to when the need help, so they would be in trouble if they couldn;t get it. But I also think it may be because your parents should know. I understand trying to keep it a secret, but you could be putting yourself in danger if anything happened. If I made sense. Just to clarify, I don;t think there should be an age limit. But, if there wasn't one, it might be unsafe for younger girls who have promiscuous sex and maybe get a disease without a parent or guardian knowing. : \ |
| druscilla. Bleeding on the Floor Age: 36 Gender: Female Posts: 1671 | SofaKing: But your alternative, for the latter, is unprotected sex. If a kid doesn't feel like they can talk to their parents and has no where to turn, they will have sex. Just without protection. |
| Casimir Pulaski Day Shotgun Sinner Age: 94 Gender: Female Posts: 8861 | druscilla; in rags: I was just saying why they may have had an age limit. I don't think there should be one. Sorry, if I wasn't clear. I am running on an hour of sleep. . . |
| Cigarettes And Suicide Bleeding on the Floor  Age: 37 Gender: Female Posts: 1725 | In Australia, the morning-after pill is available to people over the age of 16, I think, but no matter what your age, you have to go to a doctor and get a prescription for it. I'm assuming that the reason for that is so that women/girls can't abuse it by taking the morning-after pill on a very frequent basis in order to skip out on condoms when engaging in sex. I don't think there should be an age limit on it at all - what happens if a young girl (say, 14 years old) is raped by a family member and needs to prevent a pregnancy, but can't explain to her parents or another trusted person how a possible pregnancy came about? She can't go to a doctor by herself until she's 16, and it would take me a lot longer than 72 hours to work up the courage to tell my mother just why I needed the morning-after pill. Not to mention the fact that it's hard enough to get an appointment at a bulk-billing (no cost as long as you hold a Medicare card) doctor, let alone trying to get one on short notice - and not that many young girls, or women in general as far as I know, have $60+ just laying around to blow on a 15-minute consultation. I myself have taken advantage of the morning-after pill on an occasion when a condom broke and I wasn't using long-term contraception (the Pill, Implanon etc). It definitely took a huge load off my mind and I'm thankful that it exists, but I can understand how the people in charge would want to place restrictions on it so that girls can't just go out screwing around without using condoms, and then just take the morning-after pill once or twice a week so they don't get pregnant. But people under 18 (or 16, depending on where you live) should be able to go see a doctor and gain access to it without parental consent. I'd rather prescribe someone a pill without their mother knowing than have them kicked out of home for getting pregnant. |
| MistressRhi Motor Baby  Age: 40 Gender: Female Posts: 991 | I think that 16 is a good age for it to be available to you, it should not be available to younger girls/guys as it encourages them to have sex way before it's legal and way before they are mentally ready for it. It is available and given in hospitals and by doctors when a woman or girl has been raped, no matter what age she is so really, your friend should not be having sex let alone taking the after pill. She should have been more careful and used protection. if she thought she was old enough to do it then she should take responsibility for it and prepared herself and the young boy too. In most cases if you are over 16 you are able to access it without parental consent but there is a reason this law is there, to protect minors from getting hurt or doing something they will regret forever. |
| Ignore Alien Orders Salute You in Your Grave  Age: 34 Gender: Female Posts: 2026 | i think that it should be legal for anyone. while this probably creates a risk in younger kids having sex*, a lot are going to be doing it anyway, and they might as well be safe. *part of the reason i believe this is the inadequate sex ed programs in schools--the idea of abstinence being the ABSOLUTE norm and not enough talk about contraceptives early enough. i don't think all young kids are going to have sex if this is made legal, just that some who are on the fence might sway because of it. |
| druscilla. Bleeding on the Floor Age: 36 Gender: Female Posts: 1671 | MistressRhi: Kids are still going to have sex whether they can get this pill or not. This pill will not stop them having sex. Obviously. Look at what I said on the first post. This pill will stop unwanted teenage pregnancies from occurring. Teenagers will always have sex. We can't stop that. |
| yoey962 Bleeding on the Floor  Age: 33 Gender: Female Posts: 1262 | i have heard that no matter what age you are, the morning after pill can be extremely hard to get hold of. some pharmacists and doctors do not like giving it to women as they belive it is unethical. i have even read an article about a woman who went to 3 chemists (i think) and was refused at 2, resulting in her getting it too late and falling pregnant. if it it this hard for adult women to get hold of the morning after pill how on earth are younger people supposed to get hold of it. does anyone know the legal age to purchase the morning after pill in england? |
| apple. Always Born a Crime  Age: 30 Gender: Female Posts: 5372 | I see both ways. It should be over-the-counter, incase someone needs it. A young girl under 18 becoming pregnant could kill her, or the baby. It's very dangerous. But on the flip-side, having this pill avalible to anyone could lead to more young people thinking that unprotected sex is okay, and they will start to do it more and more because they have 'nothing to worry about'. |
| druscilla. Bleeding on the Floor Age: 36 Gender: Female Posts: 1671 | yoey962: It is. We had to go to three pharmacies before we could get it. And my mother had to show ID even though she quite clearly isn't below 18. |
| poopiepeople Fabulous Killjoy Age: 33 Gender: Male Posts: 132 | Every age should be able to get it. |
| LifeOnStandby Motor Baby Age: 32 Gender: Male Posts: 941 | I beleive there should be an age limit, because kids may look at it as an excuse to have sex. If somene under 18 has sex, then most likely they'll seek help over the matter compared to as if the pill was easily purchased by all ages. Teens may see the pill as an excuse to have sex, cause there's no outcome to it...even if it may not be true...or even be used as a "backup." |
| Cigarettes And Suicide Bleeding on the Floor Age: 37 Gender: Female Posts: 1725 | ^ I don't think anybody will see it as 'an excuse to have sex' - rather, an 'excuse to not take precautions before and during sex' (ie regular Pill, condoms etc). Girls/women are always going to engage in bedroom activities, no matter what, but the onus is on them to play safe, and the morning-after pill should be available to anybody in the case of an accident or unwanted sexual encounter (eg condom breaking, or a date rape where drink-spiking or something is involved). The availability of contraception does not encourage kids to go out and have sex - I've never heard of anybody saying, 'Oh, well, I guess I can go have sex because there's always condoms' - there's always a personal reason and thought process involved in the decision, so I have no problem with this pill being available to women who need it. But I do kind of agree with ID being recorded each time a purchase is made, to ensure that girls aren't just screwing around unprotected and going, 'Well, now I better haul my ass off to the pharmacist to get another one of those pills' - I'm assuming they monitor it so that if ne person makes a certain amount of purchases, they can either refuse to sell to her anymore, or whatever. I don't agree with doctors/pharmacists refusing to supply them on a so-called 'ethical' basis - it's like if a supermarket stopped selling meat because the owners were vegetarian. The product is there to be prescribed to women who need it, and denying those women peace of mind is paramount to deprivation of rights. |
| druscilla. Bleeding on the Floor Age: 36 Gender: Female Posts: 1671 | LifeOnStandby: If it's an excuse to have sex then why were there so many teenage pregnancies before this pill was legalized? Have we seen a sudden spike in teenage pregnancies due to it? No. |
| idk. my bff jill? Demolition Lover  Age: 29 Gender: Female Posts: 18372 | I really don't think anyone under the age of 18 needs to be having sex anyways. Especially unprotected. |
| druscilla. Bleeding on the Floor Age: 36 Gender: Female Posts: 1671 | bam margera.: Well, they will. Morning after pill legalized or not, they will have sex. This won't change anything. So... do you think it should be legal or not? This is not a thread about underage sex. |
| Stripey-Stripes. Motor Baby  Age: 34 Gender: Female Posts: 804 | isn't your mother buying the pill illegal? i know that your sister's friend needs it and I agree with everything that you said, but i believe that one of the reasons that it's not available to underage girls is so that their parents are aware of their daughters' actions. especially if the child is 13. i think that the age limit is good for girls who are really young, but at the same time i dont see how the limit could be lowered without it being allowed for everyone. maybe 16? can't teens go to planned parenthood clinics and get the prescription without the parent's knowledge? |
| druscilla. Bleeding on the Floor Age: 36 Gender: Female Posts: 1671 | sucks_at_life: Actually, I purchased the pill. I then gave it to my sister to give to the girl. And I would do it again. The law is wrong and I am right. And Planned Parenthoods aren't everywhere. |
| Cigarettes And Suicide Bleeding on the Floor Age: 37 Gender: Female Posts: 1725 | sucks_at_life:How is it illegal for a consenting adult to purchase such a pill? It has been put on the market for people to use - why else would scientists spend millions of dollars on researching and developing it? Sometimes it's better for parents to not be aware of their children's actions. That's not to say I agree with kids going out and doing drugs, or having sex, or putting themselves in situations like this one, but what if the girl in question had been raped by somebody, and her parents are the type of people who would do something stupid like throw her out of home for it? Not all parents are the supportive, loving and concerned pillars of strength that they're meant to be, and I can understand how some girls would feel the need to hide things from their parents for fear of certain consequences. I hear a lot of situations where a kid has, for whatever reason, done something or been put in a situation beyond their control, and instead of their parents being supportive and helping them through it, they turn their backs, call them all kinds of names, and do things like disowning them or sending them to live with a relative to 'keep them in line'. druscilla; in rags:I totally agree with you on that point. My brother is three years younger than me, and when I see him or one of his friends walking into something that could be dangerous, I make the effort to reach out, however unwanted my advice may be, and talk to them about what they're about to do. The same thing goes for when I'm too late and the trouble's already started - I'll do my best to bail them out if I can. For instance, when I heard from a mutual friend that he was hanging out with some kids who were heavily into drugs and just generally little criminals, I sat him down and told him that what he was doing, and who he was hanging out with, were likely to lead to trouble - anything from getting arrested to overdosing on ecstacy (unfortunately, my brother's not the kind of kid who has the sense to make up his mind or see right from wrong - he just goes along with whatever his mates are doing to try and seem 'cool' and 'part of the group', and I knew it would end badly). Then, although it may sound childish, I ran straight to my parents and explained the situation to them, gave them the names of the kids in question, and made sure they were aware of what was going on. He no longer hangs out with these kids, and although that may have happened by itself, I'm glad I intervened because I'd feel so horrible if I hadn't, and something had happened to him. I had never even heard of Planned Parenthood until I saw it mentioned in a movie a couple of years ago. Since then, I've found that there are practically no services like this anywhere near my area - people around here are forced to depend on their family doctor or public hospital, and of course with hospitals, you're more likely to waste six hours sitting in the waiting room and end up not getting prescribed anything because the doctor 'doesn't know your history/your parents aren't with you/some other load-of-crap reason'. |
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