NEW YORK (AP) — Allison Guarino understands the controversy over new rules allowing 15-year-olds to buy the morning-after pill without a prescription. But as someone who teaches pregnancy prevention to ninth-graders in Boston, she thinks lowering the age will "help the girls who need the help the most."

"Some girls might not have a good relationship with their parents," she said, "or they had unprotected sex and they don't know what to do."

On the other side of the issue are folks like Brenda Velasco Ross, who says the new rules infringe on her rights as a parent.

"It breaks my heart and saddens me and really angers me," said Ross, stepmom of four, including 12- and 13-year-olds in Fullerton, Calif. "If you have to buy Sudafed, you have to show ID. When I buy spray paint for a project for my daughter, I have to show my ID. It just baffles me that, with this, which has to do with pregnancy and being sexually active, I don't have to be involved. That to me just violates my rights as a parent to have guidelines and parameters for my children."

The two opinions reflect some of the issues in the debate over new rules issued last week by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which lowered the age for buying the drug without a prescription from 17 to 15. In April, a federal judge, Edward Korman, said there should be no age restrictions at all. The Obama administration said it wants to maintain the prescription requirement for those under 15 and will appeal the judge's ruling.