The Telescope

Issue Date: 10/19/09

Keep teen access to birth control

By Alejandra Jackson

Media Credit: Zach Marcus

When the Food and Drug Administration announced that it would allow teens as young as 17 to acquire the emergency contraceptive Plan B or as it is more commonly known, "the morning-after pill," detractors immediately began to argue that this decision would increase promiscuity among women and especially teen girls, a concern that recent studies show is largely unfounded.

Surprisingly, the biggest proponent for keeping Plan B off shelves was Steven Galson, director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Galson cited what he saw was insufficient evidence on the effect the drug would have on young girls and their sexual behaviors.

According to the New York Times, since the drug became available in 2006 it has had no effect on the number of women having unprotected sex or the number of abortions nationally. These findings were echoed in several studies done on adolescents and emergency contraceptives.

The New England Journal of Medicine reported that in December 2003, the FDA reviewed data stating that despite easy access for teens as young as 15, there was no increase in irresponsible sexual activity. Also, when North Carolina-based research group Family Health International conducted a study wherein anyone could call a hotline and have a prescription for emergency contraceptive phoned in, 17-year-olds only accounted for 7 percent of the number of callers. That number dropped dramatically with each prior age group.

The key to delaying sexual activity among teens lies in sexual education, not in denying them contraception. According to Reuters News Service, students who received sexual education were 60 percent less likely to get pregnant or to get someone else pregnant than students who did not receive any sexual education.

While it is true that the number of teenagers having sex rose steadily throughout the '70s and '80s, which could be argued was a result of the legalization of oral birth control during the 1960s, the numbers took a turn in the other direction once the government began its lengthy crusade against teens and sex in the 1990s.

A 2007 study by the Center For Disease Control showed the number of high school students engaging in sex had decreased steadily from 1991 to 2007. The study also showed that the number of students reporting more than four sexual partners during their life had also decreased.

Whether the roots of teenage promiscuity lie with birth control or not,the fact of the matter is the Pandora's box has been opened.

There is no way to go back in time and prevent that first oral contraceptive from reaching the masses and hoping that the future would somehow be different. All that can be done now is to inform teenagers about the dangers of sex and to provide them with the tools to prevent pregnancy.

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