<p>CCsite, I started the pill in my early teens. Even after nearly ten years, I still can’t remember to take pills daily. Switching to Implanon was a godsend. Just something to keep in mind for the future with your D :)</p>
<p>I just want to slip in here as a high school student and share my point of view on the subject. My school provides both birth control and condoms if a student asks for them. They used to notify parents, but my freshman year one of my friends who was a junior at the time didn’t want her parents to know and couldn’t get anything anywhere else without her parents knowing, so didn’t use any and became pregnant with twins. She had to quit school to take care of her kids, and in any free time she has she studies for her GED but her entire future changed. Now my school doesn’t notify parents about birth control taken and there are a lot less pregnancies. Just me butting my teenage head into an adult conversation.</p>
<p>For people over 18, and for condoms at any age, I think that free and easy access is the right thing. However, I have a 14 year old who takes daily medication. Even though he’s taken it since he was 3 months old, and even though he can feel the difference when he doesn’t take it, his track record is spotty if I don’t remind him. </p>
<p>Given that, and given the need to watch out for side effects, I’d prefer that if a hypothetical daughter that age was taking BC, that I know so I can help her monitor it.</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing your story, Amber. I cannot imagine being in your friend’s shoes.</p>
<p>Agree that if someone is going to b e sexually active, they should use protection. Would hope the student and parent could have an open dialogue about this.</p>
<p>I would like to chime in- All for BC pills OTC. In my opinion benefits outweigh the risks.</p>
<p>My D had to take meds @ 14 also, but she knew I generally was not going to keep track
of them for her, I trusted her to remember & she did.</p>
<p>I think that condoms & diaphragms should be sold OTC, but not medication.</p>
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<p>I think the age of majority should be either 18 or when you graduate from high school, whichever comes first. This would solve a lot of problems.</p>
<p>But getting back to the real world:</p>
<p>Worst case: A young couple has to use condoms until the girl is 18 because she can’t get prescription contraceptives until her 18th birthday. This is not the end of the world. </p>
<p>I went to college at 17. I was involved with a guy before Thanksgiving. We used condoms until my 18th birthday. No big deal.</p>
<p>I think this is a difficult question for children under 18. There are many things that I think children under 18 should not be able to do without parental permission–like get a tattoo, get piercings, join the military, borrow money, etc. In general, I feel that way about medical care as well. But you can’t prevent children under 18 from having sex, really, so birth control may be a special case. I do have some concerns about the pill being sold OTC, because of the potential for side-effects. But this is a situation in which you have to weigh competing interests, and it’s not easy. Also, several people made comments similar to the following:
Many people don’t think sex is a shameful thing, but rather that it is a shameful thing when done outside of marriage. People are entitled to think this, and they are entitled to teach this to their children. Since this is often a religious view, once again you have to balance the interests of parents with other societal interests in deciding what to do.</p>
<p>To me, free condoms with no parental notice is relatively easy.</p>
<p>I’m for free or low cost birth control and am against parental consent for anyone 16 or over. </p>
<p>And I’m EXTREMELY conservative, and I have very firm religious beliefs regarding premarital sexual activity. I’m also EXTREMELY realistic.</p>
<p>And I think, mostly, having to go to the doctor for a refill on BC that I’ve been taking on and off for 29 years is a racket.</p>
<p>Oh, I remembered to take my BC pills in college and when I was single and working. I was too afraid of the consequences not to!</p>
<p>As most teenagers have a cell phone or smart phone, it isn’t difficult to set a daily alarm to remember to take it.</p>
Thought this would be an interestnig topic to bump given everything that’s happened since it’s last post
Really–reviving a 3 year old thread? Start a new one.
Please use old threads for informational purposes only. Closing thread