The Morning After Pill….in advance without parents ever knowing.
I'm just not sure if it's the right thing to do, but the argument can seen from both ways, and I said so on RNN-TV just Tuesday night.
On Monday, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) called on pediatricians throughout the country to counsel all of their adolescent patients about emergency contraception and make **advance** prescriptions for it available to girls under 17, without parential knowledge.
In under words, be Preemptive. Young lady, you might not need the morning after pill right now, but here is a prescription in the event that some day you do.
What do you think? Is it a good idea. Will it help with teen pregnancy.
I'm conflicted as a father. Is it a good idea to give a young lady a prescription in advance for the morning after pill, without her parents having any idea?
On the other hand, while it's getting better, there is the problem in the United States of teenagers having babies.
The announcement was controversial with some religious groups.
"Since when should the physicians take over the responsibility of what parents should be doing?," said Michael O'Dea, founder and executive director of Christus Medicus Foundation.
"Parents are the primary educators of children, not physicians or the government," O'Dea said. "This is a violation of parents rights to be the primary educator of their children."
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which represents the country's Catholic church leadership, called the recommendation "tragic."
"It is a very sad day when physicians think that "good medicine" is to attack an adolescent girl's healthy fertility with potent drugs just to prevent a possible pregnancy," said Theresa Notare, assistant director for the Conference's Natural Family Planning Program.
"This recommendation becomes tragic when we consider that the recommendation is built upon overriding a parent's rights over their own children," she said.
We debated the morning after pill many times on ny1 in years past, but now, providing young ladies a prescription for it in advance of when it's necessary? I'm not sure about that one, what do you think?