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Community/Health & Science
Date Posted:1/06/05


Birth Control Pills Over The Counter For Teens
by: Keandra Wilson

Recently the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that they were going to consider making Birth Control Pills available over the counter to teenagers 16 and older. I went up and down 125th Street getting people’s opinions on this issue. This issue/question is an important one because at this time only a doctor can prescribe birth control pills. This limits access to birth control. The result is that teens are getting pregnant with babies they know they can’t take care of. The babies born are usually victims of adoption, bad living conditions, and sometimes they are even abandoned by their mothers. I interviewed men, women, and teenagers to get their opinions-because they will be the ones affected if this goes into effect and because this is their neighborhood and they should have a say on the things they think are needed.

To my shock, after interviewing 50 people the majority of the people feel that birth control pills should be sold over the counter. There were 66% who said yes and 34% who said no. What came, as a surprise though was the responses I received when I asked why they felt this way?

The majority of people who said, “yes” felt that teenagers should enjoy themselves without worrying about the danger of having a child. Others felt that it would be easier to get their hands on birth control pills and if the teenagers have taken time to check themselves out, why not give them easy access? In addition, one lady commented, “Yes, it should be given over the counter because young girls shouldn’t be getting pregnant.” One man said, “If they’re old enough to have sex they are old enough to take birth control pills.” A lot of the people agreed that these teens, too, need protection.

Then there are the 34% of people interviewed who felt that teenagers should go talk to their parents if they want birth control pills. These people had different views on why they said no. Most agreed that teens shouldn’t be having sex. They say that selling birth control pills over the counter only encourages teenagers to have sex at a young age. Others felt that teenage girls are too young to be on birth control pills and if they just practice safe sex there would be no need for birth control pills. One man said “No, because it promotes sex before marriage. Also, this encourages teenagers to be more promiscuous and therefore, they have a better chance of contracting a sexually transmitted disease.” There are also fears that over the counter drugs are mostly expired and are rarely checked to make sure they are safe. There are many reasons on why people say yes or no, these are just a few.

One thing all these responses have in common is that teenagers are having sex not realizing the effects of their actions. They do not think they will get pregnant or get a sexually transmitted disease. Whether you feel birth control pills should be sold over the counter or not, what is the next step? How do we make kids see how serious having sex is?

There are steps that parents can take to help their teenagers. Talk to them about sex and the consequences of it. Do not wait for them to come to you. Help them to see that abstinence is the best thing. But if they are going to have sex make them aware of what can happen and the consequences of it even if they practice safe sex. They could get pregnant or get a sexually transmitted disease. Teach them to practice safe sex. This means using a condom and knowing your partner or going to the doctor to get birth control pills.


According to the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health Population Information Program, more than 100 million women worldwide and 18 million U.S. women rely on birth control pills (BCPs) today. In the U.S. alone, about 40 different products are available.

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