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    What's So Scientific About 17?

    Posted Thursday, March 26, 2009 2:17 PM | By Abigail Pilgrim

    In all the XX Factor rejoicing of making Plan B available to 17-year-olds, no one has mentioned one peep about any of the possible consequences this change could bring about to high school sexual culture—we are talking about juniors and seniors in high school here, not adults, after all. Judge Korman's ruling is certainly a triumph of "science"—in the sense that there's no known greater physiological harm to 17-year-olds vs. 18-year-olds taking the drug. And from the research I've done, I haven't been able to find any distinct scientific reason that the limit is 17 and not 16 or 18—in fact, Judge Korman implied that the drug should be available to even younger women. 

    By definition, most of the legal age limits the government imposes are arbitrary in a scientific sense, but less arbitrary from a cultural sense. Why 16 to get your driver's license? Why 21 to drink? Why 65 to qualify for Medicare? Sure, there are basic principles that dictate the ballpark age-range for laws, but there's nothing usually medically or psychologically magical about any of those numbers. To me they're more a reflection of our cultural expectations and traditional chapters of American life.

    So in this case we're talking about a law that takes control away from parents' rights to be involved in the lives of their not-yet-legal-age children. How you want to live your life once you're an adult is one thing, but laws like these make sex something completely private and of little physical consequence for high schoolers! I get that there's nothing "scientifically" wrong with this—but science is hardly the final promoter of happiness and mental health. So while Emily and Kerry seem to think the Plan B ruling is something to celebrate, I can't help but think that having easy access to this drug is going to have a serious impact in high school culture—and not necessarily in a way that empowers and encourages teenage girls to become confident and successful women down the road.
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