>Reality is often different. I think contraceptives should be available at the age of 16 up without parental concent. It is a shame that a 17 year old can have a baby and be responsible for it for the rest of their lives but not be considered mature enough to obtain contraceptives to prevent the pregnancy to begin with.
But the right wing will fight for their right to carry a weapon, and to drive a truck of any size. It's sex that shouldn't fall among liberties but should be controlled.
> Sex will happen. Hopefully not until they are an adult, but really, if a teen is going to have sex, let them at least get contraceptives.
>
>I know this is a touchy subject and probably as hot as abortion.
No, it's hotter. That's why the abortion issue was made the hot-button matter of public discourse, because that gives the right-wingers a nice excuse to divert the attention to definitions of life, humanity, murder and generally to dictate the framework of the dispute, carefully avoiding the actual issue that pains their sorry posteriors for nearly four decades: contraception allows people to have sex without fear. They can finally enjoy each other without worrying about what are their [insert religious or other authority of choice] say, and without fearing that one evening of joy may mean losing their careers, any chance of a better life, any chance of graduating etc etc. The whole system of blackmailing the young into submission falls. The system has to fight for their hearts and minds by actually advocating its own good sides, and not by mere coercion.
There's so much at stake. And of course, the whole right wing knows this, which is exactly the reason why they don't want to talk about that, but would rather invent new ways to call any pro-choicers murderers... anything but the matters of liberty. People who cannot have a choice of what to do with their life, when to have the kids and with whom - are not free people. Any property rights, any right of peaceful gathering etc etc are nearly worthless if you cannot choose whether, when, how and with whom will you make a family. If that right is absent, the others pretty much pale.
Which was actually the substantial part of the sexual revolution of the seventies. Not breaking grounds for porn industry - that's the perversion of those rights, IMO, and I'm not amazed that the right wingers don't really want to shut it down; they only want to make it inaccessible.
> I find it interesting that the majority (not all) of those who favor requiring parental consent for contraception until the age of 18 are on the far right of the political field.
I don't. That's expected of them. Contraception is liberating and they are control freaks, the antichoicers.
> The typical response is 'you can tell me not to, but I probably will anyway.' I don't know why they choose me, but really, I've seen more pap smears than I care to. Makes me often wonder though: what about those girls who don't discuss it at all with their parents? I think they may be the majority.
I'm not surprised. Many parents, at some point, say something like "...and I don't want to hear about any of...", which then happens. They don't hear.
