Protection from an unwanted pregnancy through safe sex cannot continue to be demonized strictly on moral principles. The health of those at risk and the lives of the children they will unwillingly bring into the world need to come first.
Even if a pediatrician does refer the patient to a trained gynecologist, many teenagers are too frightened by the possibility of a birth control-related statement being found on their parents’ health insurance bill to follow through with the process.
Women need unfettered control of their own bodies, and unfettered access to contraceptives is an important step. Let every woman have contraceptives on her own terms, and equality will follow.
