I was reading a news article about a ruling by U.S. District Judge Edward Korman, of New York, in which he says women of any age should be allowed to buy morning after pills –as opposed to women having to prove they are 17 or older.
But it is not Judge Korman’s ruling that I am writing about today. I want to comment on a quote I found within the article: “I think this is a landmark decision in terms of providing women and girls in the United States access to a safe and effective form of birth control.” (attorney Andrea Costello with the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund)
This quote bothered me the second I read it. It bothered me because it has the word ‘girls’ in it. It bothered me because–in my book–girls should not be concerned with morning after pills, or any sort of contraceptive method; girls should not be having sex. PERIOD.
I am not sure at exactly what age a girl stops being a girl and becomes a woman. I don’t think there is such a thing as an exact age when this is supposed to happen. I think we all grow up at our own pace. So I am not talking about the appropriate age to start having sex, here. I am talking about the appropriate maturity level.
I believe that a person should not have sex unless he/she is mature enough to know the consequences of sex and is prepared to face them. By consequences I mean the possibility of catching an STD, the very real possibility of conceiving a child, and the emotional consequences that come with giving yourself to another person in the most intimate way possible. I don’t believe in such a thing as ‘sex with no strings attached,’ when there is sex there are emotions (positive or negative). Emotions that come with the disparity of giving yourself completely in a physical way but not emotionally, or the positive emotions that come with being corresponded in that physical and emotional self-giving. And those emotions need to be experienced and addressed with maturity.
So the words from Attorney Costello bothered me because: if a person has the maturity level of a girl, then she shouldn’t be having sex. And as a society we should not find these kind of statements acceptable.
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