Perhaps Senator Huckabee Has Never Heard of Teen Sex
21September

Perhaps Senator Huckabee Has Never Heard of Teen Sex

Written by Elaine Wilson, Posted on , in Section Therapy News

Just the other day, Republican senator Mike Huckabee gave us yet another insight into a skewed perspective when he said that it’s not the Republicans that are warring on women, but the Democrats because they insist that the government should pay for birth control.

Okay. I’m not sure how that qualifies as war, but—

No, Senator Huckabee insists, it is, and here’s why: “If the Democrats want to insult women by making them believe that they are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each month for birth control because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government, then so be it," he said. "Let us take this discussion all across America because women are far more than the Democrats have played them to be” (nbcnews.com).

And there it is.

So let’s forget, for a moment, that Huckabee just implied that women can’t (or won’t) control their own libido and therefore want birth control from the government—let’s also put aside the fact that Huckabee signed a law in Arkansas in 2005, stating that private insurance companies who provided birth control must also provide contraceptives, and he is blatantly hypocritical.

The Affordable Health Care Act that is now set in place insures that contraceptives are available for women in many different forms. This is what Senator Huckabee and other politicians are arguing against, claiming it is not the responsibility of American citizens—and certainly not senators—to pay taxes that will provide people with such. But let’s consider, for a moment, the teenagers of the country.

Teens across America know about sex. They hear about it, see much about it, and quite frankly, are fascinated by it. And many of them proceed to do it. It’s not ideal by any stretch of the imagination, but teens will have sex no matter how many times we warn them against doing so. As a result, their sex will be done in secret and certainly not with permission from the parents.

So if a teen decides to have sex and makes the decision to use birth control—where will they get it? Will they go to the parents and say, “Please get me a prescription from your insurance company”?

The argument may come along that parents need to teach their children better about sex, but have you ever met a teenager that always obeys what their parents say? If teen girls are aware that they have access to birth control and reproductive health care that they do not have to ask their parents for, they may be more responsible sexually, at least in this. Naturally, there will be an argument against this as well: “Why should I have to pay for your teen’s poor choices?”

People, it takes a village. Our youth are our future and we want them to succeed. We all need to strive to help them make the right choices and to help them overcome the lesser ones. If we don’t, then who will?