Daniel, Hauwa: Teens and Contraception

Sex education has long been an issue between parents and children. Even though some parents find it very difficult or rather unusual to talk about sex with their children, teenagers will otherwise get information from peer groups and the media. Milly Dawson stresses the importance of the parent-daughter relationship in discussions about sex education and the use of contraceptives, including birth control pills. The second author, Charles Bankhead, also discusses the significance of long-term birth control methods, other contraceptives, and the pregnancy rate in teenagers. Both authors, however, give a one-sided arguments in that and neither talks about abstinence as a birth control method.

Milly Dawson's research finds parents to be more comfortable with the use of condoms and short term birth control pills rather than with a more reliable solution, long-acting reversible contraceptives for their daughters. She sees high rate of pregnancy among adolescents who use short-acting contraceptives and believes parents can encourage the use of long-term solutions. Charles Bankhead, similarly, believes that “implants and intrauterine” provide the best protection from unwanted pregnancy among teens. He also sees the long-acting reversible contraceptives as the best solution to unwanted pregnancy. Bankhead’s statistics show that “42% of adolescents” are sexually active between the “age’s 15-19years,” and he encourages the use of “long-acting reversible methods.”

In conclusion, Milly Dawson and Charles Bankhead believe that the use of long-acting alterable contraceptive is the safest method to prevent unintended pregnancy when used with condoms to prevent STDs. They both believe that women who settle for short-acting contraceptives are in higher risk of getting pregnant compared to those with long-acting reversible contraceptives. However, the two authors present a one-sided argument on the use of long-acting contraceptives as the best form to prevent pregnancy. Neither author promotes abstinence which is the safest and most secure method of prevention. Neither encourages teenagers who want to abstinent but rather gives them the option of having a safe sex which is not healthy at a young age. In addition, exposing teenagers to the use of contraceptives can be very harmful when used excessively, and can lead to permanent barrenness or ovarian problems especially when the use starts at a very tender age.