There is no actual evidence that sixth graders are taking the clinics up on these sneaky IUDs, but even if that were occurring, there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with it. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists released a statement in 2012 calling IUDs “top-tier contraceptives” and approved them for teen use, and longterm studies are repeatedly showing that early insertion of the intrauterine devices has had a massive effect on decreasing the rate of unintended teen pregnancies.
“Over the past six years, Colorado has conducted one of the largest ever real-life experiments with long-acting birth control,” the New York Times recently reported. “If teenagers and poor women were offered free intrauterine devices and implants that prevent pregnancy for years, state officials asked, would those women choose them? They did in a big way, and the results were startling. The birthrate for teenagers across the state plunged 40 percent from 2009 to 2013, while their rate of abortions fell 42 percent, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.”
Thinking about children – especially our own children – having sex is often an uncomfortable thing for many. But there inevitably comes a point in the life of every parent of a young girl when he or she realizes that someday, at some point in the future, that daughter will likely become sexually active. Of course we all hope that it will be years down the road, preferably in a stable committed adult relationship. Mostly, though we hope that when it happens that our daughters are ready physically and emotionally and, if they don’t want to get pregnant, that they use contraception.
We also hope that when our children become sexually active, they will talk to us about it. Unfortunately, not every daughter will. It’s for that reason that is it so important that a minor can get access to birth control and other sexual health care without a parent’s notification, a process that can stop unplanned pregnancies and illnesses due to untreated sexually transmitted infections, and that she obtain early prenatal care if a pregnancy does happen and she wants to continue it, or an abortion if she does not."
