Plan B Follow-Up

I like writing about all sorts of things on my blog, including current events that I think are interesting. I guess I opened a can of worms on Tuesday when I expressed my thoughts on the recent ruling regarding Plan B, the emergency contraceptive, or "morning-after pill," and how it's now available to females of any age, no questions asked, no parental consent needed.

What I said in the post was how alarming I thought it was to think about the 12 and 13-year-old girls in my Sunday school class, or my 12-year-old nieces now being able to obtain Plan B without their parents knowing about it. I also said that it's my opinion that Plan B should be more of a "last resort." I definitely think Plan B has its place, especially in the case of rape, for example, to protect a female from an unwanted pregnancy. But it's the thought of young girls taking Plan B without the guidance of a parent or responsible adult that I think is really scary. Teenagers don't have a fully developed brain until their mid 20's and aren't capable foreseeing the consequences of their decisions. I know that there are hundreds of different scenarios where you could make exceptions for this or that. I just think there need to be stricter guidelines in the case of young teenagers and their ability to obtain Plan B without the knowledge of their parents/guardians. (I think an adult woman choosing to take Plan B is completely different than  a young teenager taking Plan B, by the way.)

A bunch of comments were left after I published my post, which was wonderful since I love getting comments, especially now that a friend helped me figure out what my blog settings need to be so that I can actually reply to the comments people leave. :) However, things started to get a bit tense, so I decided to remove what I said about Plan B from Tuesday's post and make this post clarifying my thoughts. It seemed like things were getting taken out of context and some of the comments being made were based more on other comments instead of the original post and there were lots of different tangents going off in all sorts of directions and we were veering off course! I love comments, but when people start debating an issue like this via comments on a blog, pretty soon there's just a jumbled spider's web of comments. I enjoy hearing people share their different opinions, but I don't want my blog to be the place where this discussion takes place getting mean-spirited or volatile. I do apologize, though, if what I said sounded judgmental or offensive, because I didn't intend it to.

This is one of those "hot-button" issues that has the ability to cause people to become heated quickly since it's something that people have strong feelings about (feelings that are tied to their experiences in life, as well as their religious/political/moral views, etc.) Last week I heard someone say, "Opinions are like butts… everyone has one." (I'd never heard opinions defined in these terms before, and I thought it was hilariously true!) Everyone does have an opinion, which they are entitled to, whether it's similar to or different than yours. Whatever your opinion, the important thing to remember is to be kind and respectful of everyone's right to have their own opinion. :)

Recently these pictures of teenage boys that look pregnant were printed in a magazine. They really do get your attention, which is what they were designed to do. I obviously don't have all the answers, but one thing that kids need is education when it comes to the topics of sex and how to prevent pregnancy.