Editorial: Abstinence is an unrealistic method of birth control for teens

Editorial Board | The Harbinger Online

You throw the box of granola bars in your basket, hoping it covers up what you really came to Target for: the Plan B pill. Once you ensure yourself no one can see the “emergency contraceptive” peeking out, you rush through Target’s self-checkout and pray that your mom’s best friend or your English teacher doesn’t get a peek inside your grocery bag.

Your parents said you couldn’t go on birth control because that would mean you’re having sex. And they don’t like that idea. They’re sure that abstinence is the best form of birth control. But here you are now, throwing the Plan B box in the parking lot trashcan so the evidence can’t be found at home. 

The “best” form of birth control that parents and teachers try to prescribe to us is abstinence — it’s unrealistic. While it may come as a shock, yes, teens are having sex. And denying them access to safe forms of birth control is only hurting them. 

For parents, yes, the idea of their children participating in a very adult activity may make them shift in their seat. But inhibiting the use of a product associated with sex doesn’t inhibit the act itself. Sorry mom and dad. 

If teens have only ever heard adults preaching abstinence, they won’t know what to use or do to protect against pregnancy and STDs when they have sex for the first time. And according to Planned Parenthood, 55% of both males and females have had sex by age 18. 

The conversation between a girl and her doctor to decide what form of birth control is right for her — whether that be the pill or some form of IUD — is an important one, and one that should be seen as a more realistic option than abstinence. 

With only a semester worth of health class, and just one vague unit on sex education, it’s not only unrealistic to tell teens that abstaining from sex is the only way to avoid pregnancy — it’s ignorant. 

Most students don’t even know basic birth control facts, like how melatonin cancels birth control pills. Making the conversation more open will decrease confusion about how birth control works, because the last thing teen girls need is to hear their know-it-all friend telling them how they think it works, despite that they’ve never received a real education on the subject. All teen girls have the right to know that some antibiotics make your birth control less effective, that abstinence and the pill aren’t the only options of birth control and that there are free options of birth control through Planned Parenthood.

Natalie Scholz

At 16, teens are legally able to engage in sex, so they shouldn’t be shamed for it — and their health shouldn’t be put at risk just because parents won’t let them consider their options. When parents assume that keeping their daughter from going on birth control will keep her from having sex, they’re only putting her at risk.

Not only that, but the old-fashioned view of abstinence will even lead to opposite effects of what it’s trying to accomplish. It creates a sense of shame in teens for having or wanting to have sex. Teens then are more likely to abstain from getting birth control because they don’t want to go through it and be judged, leading to unsafe sex.

No one wants to or should ever feel ashamed of acquiring birth control — otherwise, they’ll be more likely to ignore it completely and leave their preference in birth control out of the picture when having sex.

Teens are capable of making these decisions, so it’s important that they have access to information surrounding it. But even if teens decide to pursue their own information, SMSD limits that possibility.

Even Planned Parenthood, a nonprofit organization providing sexual health care, is blocked on our school computers because it’s categorized under “sex education.” Red flag. We shouldn’t be denied access to information that betters our understanding and education on sexual health. A majority of teens engaging in sexual activity aren’t looking to get pregnant. Without teen access to information on safe sex and openness to conversation about it, the numbers of pregnancies will remain high.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2017, 194,377 babies were born to women ages 15 to 19 years old — a birth rate of 18.8% per 1000 women in the age group. 

Open conversation regarding birth control may not have guaranteed that 100% of these women wouldn’t have gotten pregnant, but it would have at least significantly decreased this number and taught them they had options and nothing to be ashamed of.

According to CDC, a whopping 68% of teens don’t use birth control because they’re afraid their parents will find out. After a lifetime hearing that they shouldn’t be having sex, teens would rather opt to take the risk of unsafe sex than to tell their parents. And they’d have to risk unsafe sex — in Kansas, parental consent is required in Kansas for teens under 18 to buy contraceptives like pills, patches or IUDs. 

Even in doctors’ offices, teens don’t feel comfortable being honest. Sitting in the doctor’s office, the same unavoidable question always comes up.

“Are you sexually active?”

And with your mom sitting in the chair next to you and the doctor staring you down, you give the answer you know they want to hear.

“Umm… no.”

Because if they knew, they’d be disappointed. So instead girls lie to their doctors in fear and can’t get the health care they need.

All teens need access to birth control in some form, but what matters most is people’s ability to communicate about it, because whether adults like it or not, teens are having sex.