By Banen Al-Azawi and Jonice Sylvester Staff Writers
Do teens know enough about contraception? Do they know their options?
According to miplannedparenthood.org, Detroit has the highest percentage of teen pregnancies in the country and 20% of all births were from woman under the age of 20.
Many students believe they have to have parental consent to get access to contraceptives, and many say they feel weird about talking to their parents about it.
However, it is possible for minors to get birth control without parent consent. The Title X Family Plan Act is a federal law passed in 1970 that makes family planning services available free or at low cost to individuals, even to adolescents of any age. So teens can go to clinics that get Title X funding without their parents’ knowledge or permission.
Ruth Davis, program director at Alternatives for Girls said youth can go on the Michigan.gov website and search Title X and put in their zip code to find clinics that get Title X funding. And teenhype.org is a website that has a list of Detroit clinics that help teens.
“There is a number of types of contraception available. The hard part is the youth need to do research to know what’s available and what’s best for them,” Davis said.
Junior Kiara Duncan said girls need to be prepared for what’s out there.
“I can talk to my mom, but a lot of girls can’t because their parents automatically think they’re doing something wrong,” Duncan said.
Junior Martez Littleton says he’s glad Title X clinics exist because not all people have parents who will be up to talking about sex and birth control options, so they should have a good place to turn to.
Former DPS teacher Stephanie Radcliffe said her daughter was able to come to her with questions and she was open about everything. She wishes all teens could talk to their parents.
“Even though the idea of your ‘little girl’ having sex is a very sad thing to think,” Radcliffe said, “you should still let them have access to birth control because it’s better than having your 16-year-old daughter telling you that she is pregnant.”
