Just recently the Houston Chronicle (my local paper did something good, wow), reported the results of the two Texas laws (enacted in 1999) that limit a young women's access to reproductive health care; the findings show proof how disastrous our nation will become in the up-coming years. The laws, which cost taxpayers $44 million, have resulted in more than 1,600 additional abortions and have left thousands of teens with untreated cases of STDs.
Study: Teen safe-sex laws are costly
Rules restricting teen girls' options for health care cost an estimated $44 million a year
By ERIC BERGER Houston Chronicle
Two laws in Texas that limit teenagers' ability to confidentially obtain reproductive health care cost $44 million a year largely because of additional pregnancies, local researchers have found.
The laws were passed by the Texas Legislature in 1999 but only recently enforced.
One requires teens younger than 18 to obtain parental consent before receiving prescription contraceptives, and the other requires health care providers to report to law enforcement agencies the identity of patients younger than 17 who they think are sexually active
"Sometimes legislators pass laws with a certain intent, but sometimes these laws have unintended consequences," said Luisa Franzini, an economist at the University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston and the lead author of a study published this month in Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.
"In this case, the result is poor reproductive health for teens and increased costs for the state of Texas."
The laws were attached as "riders" to appropriations bills in 1999, and have been renewed during every legislative session. State Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, who sponsored the riders, did not respond to requests for comment on the study (chicken-shit bastard).
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Supporters of restrictions on teen access to contraceptives say the issue is not one of costs, but whether parents should know what is happening in their children's lives.
"Whatever the cost, if these laws force even a few teenagers (basicly, screw the majority) to talk to their parents about these issues, then they're worth it," said James Sedlak, vice president of the American Life League, an anti-abortion group.
"If a young girl is afraid to talk to her parents about using contraceptives, then she knows she's doing something wrong."
The researchers estimated that 37 percent of girls who used reproductive health care services would stop doing so because of the parental notification requirements.
As a result, Franzini and her colleagues calculated that more than 8,000 additional pregnancies would occur annually among Texas adolescents. Because of prenatal costs, births and abortions, the total cost was nearly $44 million.
Locally, Planned Parenthood noticed a chilling effect almost immediately after enforcement of the laws, McGill said. The number of visits by minors in the second half of 2003, compared with 2002, dropped by 30 percent.
An earlier study found that nearly 50 percent of adolescents surveyed would not seek contraceptives from a health care clinic if their parents had to know about it.
<snip>
A number of physician groups, including American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, have urged policy-makers to ensure that sexually active, young patients have confidential access to health care and counseling.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2953109