Morning after pill given to 11 year olds!

I think that it being given to children (because they are still children!) of eleven is stupid. But I'm not against the morning after pill in general - I disagree that it's like abortion, because it's taken to STOP someone getting pregnant, not to terminate a pregnancy.

I think that people need to have the choice to take the morning after pill because not everyone is ready for a baby. But children as young as eleven - that's stupid.

Eleven year olds shouldn't have to worry about things like that at their age! And I agree that it might promote underage sex which SHOULD NOT happen at eleven!!!!! And I also disagree about it acting like an abortion. If an egg isn't fertilized in the first place, then like Amy said, it's just stopping someone from getting pregnant.

I agree with Amy completely. They shouldn't give kids as young as 11 the morning after pills. Gosh, at 11 I HARDLY knew what sex was, so I just don't think that was appropriate or necessary. Now, if they were a few years older, where sex is happening all the time, then I could understand.

I also don't believe that the morning after pill is like abortion at all, just as Amy said. Abortion, for me, is okay as long as it's not a form of birth control. But that's another topic. Anyway, I agree 100% with Amy.

I don't think they should be giving the morning after pill to 11 year olds but it should be there for people like me. Like times when I get drunk and do stuff really stupid I'm like running to school or the pharmacists to get the pill so I think it should be offered to people but not at 11 thats silly. But then again I do know people who lost there virginity at 11.

A 11 year old is still a child, children don't have sex!!! Children are supposed to run around and play hide-and-seek and stuff :D Seriously.

I have nothing against abortion or morning after pills. The pill can sometimes be a girl's best friend, to be honest. Now, imagine that a girl gets abused, and gets pregnant. How many of you think she would want to keep that child? I'm sorry if i'm poking a sensitive subject here, but just think about it. People have different sights of this, this is just me...

On the contrary, children often do have sex. They shouldn't, but what kids should and what kids do are often very different things.

And if kids are having sex, they should have easy and free access to contraception. Morals are fine in moderation, but if it's a choice between morals and health, health wins out.

WHEN I WAS 11....... xD Yeah, let's not go that road. I simply fell from trees and ran against walls; still do, actually xD

But when we think back when we were young, and what we did and didn't do, how does the youth today break away from how we behaved and acted? I think children are more or less forced to take a lot more mature role for some reason... all of a sudden, we have 7 year old girls crying to their mum that they're fat and their whole me-picture goes down the hill.

...and 11 year olds getting morning after pills! See, i stayed on the topic :D

EDIT: If i may say, that when we had sex ed in 6th grade (for the first time) we got condoms and a book. In 7th grade we got more condoms, and 9th grade morning after pills AND condoms :D

Certainly if minors find themselves needing it... On the one hand, the parents should be notified, but if that means kids hesitate to get contraceptives... It's a difficult balance.

The ideal situation would be, of course, if kids could have a sufficiently close relationship with their parents to dare to discuss this sort of thing with them, making the question of informing the parents moot, but what with human nature and all I suspect that's unlikely...

Oh yeah, The Talk :D Never had it properly, mum didn't see any reason for it, and dad was very shocked about it all. "Not his little girl..."

I think parents should just get over themselves and talk about it more! They've done, their parents have done it-- let's not go there xD

Well, people react differently to different things, also pills and such. Everyone doesn't get ill of them... atleast i haven't, but it's possible it needs a special way of swallowing the pill... xD

...yes, i'm trying to be funny :D It's a tragedy! xD

My college roommate had to take one after a broken condom scare...and then again after an assualt (she met some guy that she had been flirting with on the net and suspected that he might have drugged her), when she was prescribed the pill the doctor also had her use Dramamine- which can help with nausea and is usually what people use when flying.

I agree that parents have the right to know what their child's medical needs are, until the legal age it is the parents responsiblity to care for, nurture and protect their children, and they can't do that if they don't know what their child is up to.

I hope along with the morning after pill the child was counseled as to the events that led up to her needing the pill in the first place. It needs to stop being cool to have sex before you can handle adult resposibilities. Condoms are easy to come by, but even in places where condoms and morining after pills are handed out like lollipops I sitll think that kids are going to make bad choices... they need to be taught how to say no.

But everyone don't have supportive parents that will take you to a doctor whenever you need to. Of course it's only right to let the parents know what their kids are being taught at school, but i also think it's good they learn it early enough. Sure, 11 might be a bit out there... :/ This is complicated. You could have 11 year old girls pregnant out there (wether it's planned or not)! So which is better; a 11 year old girl pregnant, or teach them these kind of stuff on beforehand?

...once again, this is only my opinion.

I have no problem with sex education, we had it starting fifth grade (although it focused mostly on the physical changes we would be experiencing but that was a looooong time ago). I just think that as much focus needs to be on teaching abstience, not just protection. The morning after pill is helpful, but it won't do any good if the girl is already pregnant, nor will it fix the reasons that led to her being there. I think girls in particular need to be taught, along with sex education, self-esteem, because I think that if an 11 year old is willing out there having unprotected sex (which we don't know the circumstances that led her to need the pill) than it's because of poor self image.

Well, who said she was willing? Has anyone thought about the chance of an 11 year old girl being forced to it?

I think that changes the situation. I don't have any qualms about it then, although I think if that were the situation an eleven-year-old would have involved someone else (be it parents or older siblings) anyway.

Not necessarily. An awful lot of abuse, rapes in particular, are never reported. Certainly it's not unheard of for eleven-year-olds to not tell their parents about rapes.

Anyway, as for the whole abstinence thing... Teenagers will have sex, whether they're "taught" or not. Teaching them it's a good idea to wait is fine, as long as they're also taught how to protect themselves In Case Of.

Personally, I'm in favour of a Sig on the belt, but that might just be me.

Quote :

Not necessarily. An awful lot of abuse, rapes in particular, are never reported. Certainly it's not unheard of for eleven-year-olds to not tell their parents about rapes.

That's true...

One of the reasons I don't like debating is that everything varies on a case-by-case basis. What might work out for one person is completely wrong for someone else.

Exactly - generalisations do nothing but produce a solution that's not-quite-right for as many people as possible.

True, true, Eimi.. I still don't see morning after pills as abortion, or as a bad thing, but handing them to 11 year olds is a bit over the top.

You know...my high school doesn't even have sex ed. IN HIGH SCHOOL. Perhaps we should all get handed the morning after pill for Halloween. xD Anyway, they then wonder why there are over 20 girls in my high school pregnant a year. Morning after pill would be beneficial in some cases..just not for 11 year olds. :/ ......I've already posted on this, but whatever. xD

I'm 12, so I know what I'm talking about when I say I disagree. 11 Year old kids are starting puberty and getting someone pregnant is the ONLY thing from stopping an 11 year old boy from having sex, now they encourage it! This is one of the worst ideas I ever heard of...

Wow... that's a pretty impressive necropost.

Anyway, I wouldn't say making contraception available is encouraging kids to have sex - they'll do that anyway. It's just providing a means for them to remain relatively safe while having it. Withholding access to contraception on ideological grounds would be far more irresponsible.

As is so often the case, I suspect that honesty, to resort to cliché, is probably the best policy. Teach them that it's wiser to wait, but also teach them how to indulge safely if they decide to.

this is horible they shouldn't be giving young children these pills. Kids that are 11 yrs old shouldn't even be thinking about that kind of stuff.

Perhaps they shouldn't - whether they should or not is beyond the scope of the discussion - but they will be thinking of it. So why not make sure they're prepared?

I don't think anyone would - or could - condone actively encouraging kids to have sex even earlier (because they are kids, whatever this "young adult" nonsense would have us believe). But, human nature and physiology being what they are, they will have sex fairly early on. And given that, it's irresponsible to not give them every chance to avoid risks or mitigate their effects.

I know in our community, all adults here are like scared to talk about not having sex, being afraid that talking about it will only encourage us more. and then they act all confused as to why there's so many drop outs and teen pregnancy.
(however they do the exact opposite with drugs, trying to educate us starting in first grade, and we still have such an enormous drug problem, its not even funny. they are aware of it, but dont quite connect the talking about pot all the time when we're 7 to people starting to smoke pot by the time they're 10.)

for eleven year olds though, theyre barely even thinking about it. Why give them something now that they wont need? Later, yes. But if these eleven year old in this school realy and truely dont need them, theres no need to go out of your way to provide the pill.

I suppose there are some eleven year olds who have been in sexual contact before. But the problem would be singling out these young girls, you wouldn't want to be giving the pill to a girl that isn't sexually active. Maybe a conversation with first year girls (when they are eleven) and asking them if they are active then they can take the precations. Instead of a giving the pill to a young girl who hasn't been in sexual contact to make her think it would be okay to have sex then because she had the pill to take the morning after.

also the pill is availible to young girls at their lo0cal GP, we don't need to be inforcing it in school aswel.. there is plenty of place a girl (or boy for that matter) can confidentually get hold of sexual precations

I think eleven is definitly to early to be introduced to it. I do think they should be available God - forbid anything happens but I think the parent's should know that it's their and then if their kids tell them something they can make the decision.

When I was eleven we had sex ed but it was more about puberty than anything else. sixth grade was "THE TALK" and then seventh and eight is more of the same.

Eleven is fifth grade so I can see them covering physical changes but not anything else.

Eleven years of age? That's crazy! Eleven year olds should not have to worry about sex or getting pregnant. If anything the only thing they should worry about is trying to catch their favorite shows on time. And if adults at their schools are giving this out with out the parents knowledge, than they deserve to be sewed. If I was a parent, I would want to know what my kid is consuming and if they're giving out these pills with out their knowledge is not right.

Any one know if there has been a case brought up against these pills?