Plan B over the counter for those under 18
As probably everyone knows, US Health and Human Services Secretary Sibelius basically vetoed plan B over the counter for those under 18. The purported reason is that 11 year olds may not understand the directions, despite a study showing that those 11 to 17 in aggregate actually do understand the directions just fine.
A lot of the discussion on the web seems to fall along the same lines as discussions about abortion. "I would want to know if my daughter had an abortion/got Plan B because I would want to help her."
Instead of talking about what we want young people to do because we think we know better than they do how their lives work, can we not just get the fuck out of the way and let them do what they want? At least when it comes to their own bodies and topics they're not likely to want to raise with their parents?
Yes, maybe they will make a mistake that their parents wish they hadn't. That mistake is THEIRS TO MAKE.
The only "mistake" that would result from allowing them to use Plan B would be their not getting pregnant. There's no evidence that availability of EC causes more carelessness in EC use. In fact, the most common reason for using EC is to backstop failure of a condom.
The law should not be micromanaging to try to maximize a good result for everyone's decisions or to make a parent's decision more important than that of the girl who is pregnant.
We don't legislate who gets to drive what kind of regular passenger vehicle (aside from you have to have a license) because we think someone who has children should get a sedan or minivan instead of a Corvette, or keep people under 25 from having fast cars because they will just speed and get into trouble.
A lot of the discussion on the web seems to fall along the same lines as discussions about abortion. "I would want to know if my daughter had an abortion/got Plan B because I would want to help her."
Instead of talking about what we want young people to do because we think we know better than they do how their lives work, can we not just get the fuck out of the way and let them do what they want? At least when it comes to their own bodies and topics they're not likely to want to raise with their parents?
Yes, maybe they will make a mistake that their parents wish they hadn't. That mistake is THEIRS TO MAKE.
The only "mistake" that would result from allowing them to use Plan B would be their not getting pregnant. There's no evidence that availability of EC causes more carelessness in EC use. In fact, the most common reason for using EC is to backstop failure of a condom.
The law should not be micromanaging to try to maximize a good result for everyone's decisions or to make a parent's decision more important than that of the girl who is pregnant.
We don't legislate who gets to drive what kind of regular passenger vehicle (aside from you have to have a license) because we think someone who has children should get a sedan or minivan instead of a Corvette, or keep people under 25 from having fast cars because they will just speed and get into trouble.
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