Birth-Control Pills Should Be Available To Teenagers

Each year, approximately 67.8 per 1,000 girls aged fifteen to nineteen become pregnant. Of those pregnancies, the majority -82 percent- are unintended (Planned Parenthood). Numbers such as these have lead to a the popular debate of whether or not birth-control pills should be available to teenage girls without a prescription. Many take the side that it should not be sold without a prescription due to potential risks that would be unknown to patients without an examination from a doctor. However, when compared to other medications that are available to teenagers without a prescription, -such as acetaminophen which can cause a deadly overdose- non-prescription birth-control pills would be safer to use and provide easier access for teenagers which leads to a decrease in unplanned pregnancies and that benefits the society. Therefore, birth-control pills should be available to teenage girls without the hassle of getting a prescription. …show more content…
Especially those who have preexisting conditions that could worsen if the type of birth control they’re taking is the wrong type for their bodies (Grossman 2015). By going to a doctor to get a prescription, certain types of birth control that could make a patient’s condition more problematic are ruled out. Others fear, some doctors included, that by a patient receiving prescription-free birth control pills they could potentially miss out on medical advice or lose the opportunity to have a problem diagnosed (Karlamangla 2016). It may be true that non-prescribed birth-control pills could be risky however, when compared to studies on how safe the pill is and how easier access could cause a decrease in teen pregnancy rates, the benefits outweigh the