Rochester, N.Y. - Mother of five Jennifer Yantz-Boss doesn't have teenagers yet, but she’s not too fond of the idea of them having access to emergency contraception.“That's just handing it out and saying they can do whatever they want whenever they want to do it,” Yantz-Boss said.
Dr. Susan Yussman, an Adolescent Medicine Specialist at the Golisano Children's Hospital said that's not the case.
“There are good studies to show that providing emergency contraception actually does not increase sexual promiscuity, What it does is increase the use of emergency contraception,” Yussman said.
Yussman said the goal is to cut down on unplanned pregnancies.
“Sometime condoms can break, they fall of, they don't have them with them so to prevent the pregnancy this would be a backup,” said Yussman.
Dr. Yussman said Plan B shouldn't replace an open line of communication between parents and teens.
“Most parents have a sense of if their child is having sex even if they haven't had that conversation so I always encourage parents to start having that conversation about sex,” Yussman said.
That’s something parents some parents said they already plan to do.
“I don't want her to be in that situation to need it, so I'll have to talk to her about safe ways,” parent Holly Depuy said.
“The world isn't what it used to be, not enough communication,” said Yantz-Boss. “If we talked more with our kids and maybe gave them more information maybe there wouldn't be what's going on now.”
