The debate in state legislatures on teenage contraception centers around one question- should parents be notified if their daughters go to a family planning clinic for contraception or treatment of a sexually transmitted disease?
New research helps shed light on the impact such a law might have. In 2001, more than 900,000 female minors obtained family planning services at federally funded clinics.
“We would definitely see an increase in teen pregnancy, which would probably mean an increase in the number of abortions and births. We would see an increase in the rates of sexually transmitted diseases among adolescents,” says Dr. Rachel Jones, study researcher at the Alan Guttmacher Institute.
According to her new research, this is what would occur should laws change which currently give adolescents younger than 18 years of age the right to consent to a range of sexual health services, such as STD testing and treatment.
Sites that are the recipient of federal funding are required to offer confidential care.
The new study in the latest Journal of the American Medical Association looked at the extent to which parents are aware that their teenage daughters are accessing reproductive health services, and how minors would react if there were mandated parental involvement for prescription birth control.
The study gathered information from 33 different states. “The good news is that most kids are talking to their parents about birth control and sex. 60%, indicated that their parents knew that they were at the clinic for reproductive health services,” says Dr. Jones.
Around one in four said that the parent had suggested the visit. If there were mandated parental notification, 46% of adolescents said they would use an over-the-counter method for contraception, such as condoms. 18% would go to a private physician. 7% said they would stop having sex as a response.
But there is some distressing news. “We found that one in five teens or 18% said that they would engage in unsafe sex i.e. they would still have sex but they would either use withdrawal or they wouldn’t use any method,” states Dr. Jones.
5% would forgo testing and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.
Dr. Jones says, “Mandated notification for contraception services is not going to discourage teens from having sex, it’s going to discourage them from engaging in healthy behavior. It’s going to encourage them to have unprotected sex and it’s going to increase the rates of teen pregnancy and the rates of sexually transmitted diseases.”
21 states currently allow minors to consent to contraceptive services, and another 14 allow that right for those in certain categories, such as those who have had a previous birth. If there is no law, the decision is left to the clinician to determine whether or not to contact the parent.