[scan59]

Tara's approach was even more breathtaking. She says she put Rickeita on the Pill herself as soon as she started her periods - "at 12 or 13". Why on earth would any mother do that?

"It wasn't a case of giving her permission to sleep around but you can't lock a young girl in her bedroom 24/7," is the (feeble) explanation.

There was a girl in my jr high school (middle school) whose mom did that. The girl acted on the "protection" and became "everybody's" girl. She thought she was having a good time, but she was simply used and abused, passed around from boy to boy. It was a terrible, tragic thing.

[jdub]

I grew up in an isolated suburb of Houston in the 70's-80's. Almost every girl was put on birth control "to control her periods". But, at least to my knowledge, it wasn't done until they were 15 or so.

Some girls had sex, some didn't. What they didn't have was babies. My entire high school experience, in a school with over 2000 students, there was one pregnant girl (top ten in her class, got married to the father).

When i see these pregnant teens today, often with a baby already, i think "my god, how can you be too lazy to take birth control?". Sadly, it seems that pregnancy is just viewed as a condition, and a child is something you deal with rather than something you cherish.