Pros And Cons Of Adolescents To Make Autonomous Medical Choices

Many people may ask if adolescents have the right to make autonomous medical choices. In my point of view there are pros and cons to it. There are some choices that they can make and other choices that parents or guardians should make. Some adolescents do not like to get shots but there are some that are necessary to life. For an example at the age of sixteen teens are supposed to get a Meningococcal Vaccine (MCV4). “This vaccine protects against 4 strains of bacteria that causes meningococcal disease. These infections do not happen very often, but when they do they can be very dangerous. The disease can become very serious, very quickly. ”http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/who/teens/vaccines/mening.html.
So an adolescent should not be able to make the decision on whether or not to receive this vaccine, but there are other vaccines they can choose whether or not they receive like a flu shot. …show more content…
Statistics show that “in 2013, a total of 273,105 babies were born to women aged 15–19 years.” http://www.cdc.gov/teenpregnancy/about/index.htm
If teenage girls were able to get birth control without their parents permission then it could prevent teenage pregnancy. For some teenage girls it is hard to talk to their parents about that subject so therefore they may be irresponsible and end up pregnant. Especially with peer pressure being an enabler for decisions of the sort. Therefore a teenage girl should be able to make the decision on receiving birth