The Morning After Pill should be sold to all people, including minors.
By Alejandro Cea
In today’s world, the climate is hot for discussions regarding sex, abortion, and contraception.
In states across the US, it is getting increasingly harder to get an abortion. Those same legislations are also considering removing the availability of many over-the-counter (OTC) oral contraceptives (OC) and emergency contraceptives (Plan B, Morning After Pill, etc.)
One such bill introduced is Texan House Bill 2709. This bill would essentially prosecute against the use of abortion pills in Texas, as in the eyes of the law, would be the same as killing a born child. This bill does not explicitly call for the ban of Plan B but it may open doorways for a bill like that to be passed.
This is where the logic starts to get confusing to me. Let me get this straight, many advocate to ban abortion because people should have “known what they’re getting into” and that they also should’ve known to use protection. But when someone wants to use an emergency contraceptive such as “Plan B” to prevent pregnancy, they can no longer do that. How far will we go to protect “unborn life” that at that point hasn’t even reached conception?
Many people argue that the morning-after pill should not be so readily available to minors. According to Dr. Lisa Campo-Engelstein, a professor of the gynecology department of a medical college in New York, many of these people advocate for “informed consent” which they say young women do not have. For this reason, pharmacies should require the consent of a parent, as they more understand information regarding emergency contraception.
After all, “parents know best” right? This idea can go wrong in so many ways.
When has a parent ever forced a decision on a child that they were happy with? Probably not often right? This goes for decisions regarding female anatomy and the decisions young women, or anybody with a reproductive system, make for their own bodies.
This idea can discourage minors from even telling their parents of their failed contraception attempts and can lead them to get in trouble. And if the pregnancy goes through all sorts of problems can arise.
Many parents may hold more conservative views and would want their child to go through with the pregnancy. Young women should not have the rights of their bodies at the mercy of their parents.
I have a friend who describes her experience with using an emergency contraceptive. She did use other forms of contraception that ended up failing. This prompted her to quickly order a Plan B from DoorDash with the help of her boyfriend. She describes that if she hadn’t used this emergency contraceptive her life would have been completely derailed. She states, “I probably would have been kicked out of my house by my parents.” She explains that it would have ruined her life goals to attend college.
Everyone makes mistakes and nobody should be punished for it, especially for an unplanned pregnancy that they never intended on having. An unplanned pregnancy isn’t simply just something you can give up for adoption. An unplanned pregnancy can take an emotional toll on someone and prevent them from completing their life goals if they choose to keep the baby. It can completely mess up someone’s timeline when it could have been easily prevented right from day one.
Even in states where abortion and contraception are widely accepted such as California, it is still difficult to acquire emergency contraception. Many pharmacies have a minimum age requirement to buy Plan B even though courts have already ruled against that. This is plainly illegal and points out the stigma against Plan B.
Many people get the wrong idea about Plan B and think it is an abortion pill. It is not. This common misconception may contribute to various oppositions to emergency contraception such as Plan B.
Plan B should stay readily available to people of all ages for these reasons. Readily available Plan B will prevent unwanted pregnancies, not only for the betterment of minors but for the betterment of the country and the world itself.
Seriously though, we do not need more unwanted humans. Traffic, pollution, and overcrowding are already bad enough.