Why Would a Teen Need Birth Control? Well....

Kendall Jenner on Birth Control?

So, today started out really shitty for me and I was pretty emo all morning as one of my best friends can testify to. When I'm really emo, I sometimes read trashy gossip columns as a way to get my mind off of what is bothering me. Today I read, among other things, that fifteen year old Kendall Jenner of the media-whoring, reality show star Kardashian-Jenner family is on birth control. Of course, a lot of Middle America seems to be outraged, OUTRAGED I tell you, that a teenager would be on birth control.

Kendall's family says it's for medical reasons...and I'm inclined to agree. There are quite a few uses for birth control pills that are not preventing pregnancy. For example, Kendall, like many teens and women (including myself) might have very, very bad cramps. Cramps that are too severe to be treated with Tylenol/Midol/Motrin/your OTC painkiller of choice. Because these cramps are controlled by hormones, birth control pills help keep them under control. Kendall might also have extremely variable periods (more so than the typical teenage girl), bad acne, or other problems that can be easily treated by the hormones in birth control pills. All of these explanations are very common uses of the birth control pill, but are often forgotten in our rush to jump to the most scandalous conclusion.

But, what if she is sexually active and that is why she is using birth control? My response is....thank God someone in this country is being responsible! We have reality shows that focus solely on teenage mothers that are in no way responsible enough to raise their children. We have abstinence-only education programs that are woefully deficient in facts and does nothing to really prevent teen sex, only the use of protections when they do engage in sex. And don't get me started on the attempt by certain politicians to defund Title X family planning and low-income family health services. Or Bristol Palin, who promotes abstinence-only sex education despite quite obviously not following her own advice.

Not that I think Kendall necessarily should be having sex at 15, but the fact is that teenagers in this country have sex. They've pretty much always have sex, the main difference now being that we don't try to hide it...as much. Although I don't personally agree with the idea of a 15 year old having sex, if Kendall is, at least she's trying to be careful. That's more than I can say for a lot of teens in this country.