Teenagers Should Have Access to Birth Control Essay Sample

Imagine you and your mom are having an awkward conversation in the doctor's office. You're checked out by the doctor, and he asks you a few questions. When the doctor asks you if you are sexually active, you start to panic, because your mom is is in the room with you. You want to follow the right path and get on birth control to stay safe, but you know your mother will reject the idea. In the 21st century, girls should be able to use any form of birth control they choose without parental consent. Between 2007 and 2011, the number of teen pregnancies between the ages of 15 and 19 decreased by 26%, dropping from 435,436 to a record low of 329,797, a difference of 105,639 from 2007. The recent decline is highly encouraging, but experts cannot emphasize enough that more needs to be done to ensure birth control reaches those in need. Allowing teens to have access to birth control by doing safe sex, reduction of unwanted pregnancies, financial issues, and careers being put on hold. 

The use of birth control can allow a teen to practice safe sex. There are several ways of having sex safely, like using condoms, dental dams, being on birth control. It can help protect teens from STDS. Despite their benefits, condoms cannot completely protect you and your partner from some STDs including herpes, syphilis, and human papillomavirus (HPV), the virus that can cause genital warts and cervical cancer. Additionally, condoms can slip, break, or leak when not taking them off correctly. Getting tested for STDs should be done regularly because you can know if you do have an STD and get it treated right away. 

Without the help of drugs like Plan B or any type of birth control, a large number of teenage girls will become unplanned mothers, making more of a financial burden to society. With it being expensive, the United States expanded the insurance coverage for contraception along with creating the Affordable Care Act in 2012. According to the Planned Parenthood article, it states, “When faced with an unintended pregnancy, many poor and low-income teens are likely to view early childbearing as a positive, desirable choice, and many choose to give birth with the hope of improving their lives''(Planned parenthood, Pg.6, 2014). This means that the woman will choose to give up the child for adoption to allow them to have a good life even though the mother wants to keep her child, but all they want is what's best for the child. 

By using birth control, teens can reduce their chances of an unwanted pregnancy. Having an unwanted pregnancy allows teens to drop out of high school because they need to provide for their children. According to “Teen Pregnancy as a Cause to School Dropout” written by María Eugenia Miquilena and Edgar Lara, it states, “teen pregnancy compromises young girls’ development opportunities, as dropping out of school hinders their formal education, resulting in employment and productive disadvantages, while making them vulnerable to poverty, violence, crime and social exclusion”(Miquilena, Lara, 2017). Allowing teens birth control gives them the chance to conserve their mental and emotional well-being by not risking a potential abortion. This allows them to pursue stable careers after high school graduation.  

The choice of using birth control is an important factor in women's rights. With the topic of birth control, there is major support from the public to expand the availability of birth control for teenagers. Those who support teenagers getting birth control argue that if birth control keeps requiring parents’ consent, teens will simply have sex without it. Parents have way more than enough control over their kid’s life. Teenagers need some found freedom from them. Teenagers want space from them and want to experience some of the worlds on their own and make their own choices. By not having any restrictions on getting birth control, girls would be intensely safer from unwanted pregnancies. They could also get birth control on their own time, and not have to rely on their parents to pick it up whenever they felt like it.