Just watched *What Would You Do, *ABC’s hidden camera ethics show. Wondered what Dopers would do, in the scenarios they used and the gender flipped versions they didn’t.
The scenario: you’re at your local drugstore. A teenager comes up to you and nervously explains that they need either condoms or Plan B, but the pharmacist behind the counter where the contraception is stocked knows their mom, so they’re too scared to buy it themselves. They have the cash, they just want you to buy it for them.
The kid asking for condoms tells you s/he’s 15.
The girl asking for Plan B tells you she’s 17. Assume it’s legal in your state for 17 year olds to buy it without a prescription. The boy asking for Plan B tells you his girlfriend is 17, but she’s not with him.
I approve of any and all means of getting people to use birth control. I would probably buy the stuff for the kids with my own money. My husband is fond of saying the only way a panhandler could ever con me would be to ask for money for birth control.
I’ll buy condoms for anyone who asks. I’m not sure about Plan B. I’d ask to see the warning label, I think…not sure, not sure at all. I know that the birth control pill is contraindicated for some patients. I have been turning this over in my mind, and I really just don’t know about purchasing Plan B for a strange teenager. I might offer a teenage girl a ride to a different pharmacy. The teenage boy is going to have to produce the girl, definitely.
Man, I was starting to think everyone was too scared to even post to this thread!
OK: my answers. Condoms, no problem, kid. But really, if you’re old enough to have sex, you ought to be old enough to buy condoms. Now that I’ve got that Mom lecture out of the way, sure. You know how to put 'em on, right? Should we go grab a banana so I can show you? You need any condom friendly lube with that?
Plan B: this one is trickier for me, not because of my ethics, but because of my wanting to get a nursing license. If I buy Plan B for a 16 year old and someone finds out, I’m fucked, and they can deny or revoke my license for administering prescription meds without a prescription. So if she has ID she’s willing to show me that prove she’s 17, no problem. If not, I’ll pay for a cab to get her to Planned Parenthood - and even go with her, if she wants - where they can discuss her options with her. I’d offer the boy cab fare to go get his girlfriend and her ID and handle it the same way. I’d also give either one my phone number, to call me any time if there’s a complication or they get scared.
I would not buy them plan B because:
a. I haven’t decided how I feel morally about fertilized but not yet implanted ova
b. It’s not supposed to be a pleasant thing to use so they should hear from/be able to ask the pharmacist what’s involved with cramping, how much bleeding to expect and so forth.
I have no objections to Plan B when it comes to fertilized ova. My objection is that I don’t KNOW that this particular medicine is safe for this particular girl, and I don’t even know enough to ask the right questions.
And I think that I’d have a little talk about how Vaseline/petroleum jelly will make condoms break.
I have no problem in theory buying Plan B, I think it’s awesome that it’s on the market, except that as was mentioned above, I’d want the girl in question to be the one buying it as it’s hormones and medication and all. Hormones and my body don’t get along well. I don’t know anything about hers. I’d be happy to help her with contact info for PP or anybody else who could help her out, though.
Condoms? Of course. Here. Have some. Have 'em on me.
The age of consent in my state is 18, so I’m not sure it would even be legal for me to buy condoms for very underage teens. I would want the 15 year olds to have condoms, but I’m not going to risk having to register as a sex offender or something because of it. Since the pharmacist is a friend of the kid’s mother then I think there’s a decent chance word would get back to the parents somehow.
All the same concerns apply to Plan B, plus the possibility that the girl will have some sort of bad reaction to the drug. I know almost nothing about Plan B and have no idea what kinds of side effects it has or what contraindications there might be. If she won’t talk to the pharmacist herself then I don’t think it’s safe for me to get her the pills.
Plan B is an over-the-counter drug now? I had no idea.
I’m relatively certain that as a male, I can’t purchase Plan B directly. Aren’t there rules against males buying it to try to prevent rapists who use date-rape drugs from giving it to their victims? Maybe that’s limited to my state, but it’s not an unreasonable rule.
Basically this for me too. Condoms, no problem. I’d probably even throw in a few bucks of my own and get the kids the economy pack. But anything involving serious medicine like Plan B isn’t my place. I’m not a doctor nor do I play one on TV.
Where I live, a pharmacist refusing to provide Plan B or talking about what a person has bought loses his/her license so fast there’s a sonic boom (they recover it if the claims are found to be false); therefore, the girl would have to get it herself, as this means she’ll also get (as much as she’s willing to listen) the pharmacist’s explanations.
I know some local pharmacists who are worried about girls who, apparently thinking that a woman’s period is always 29 days long and having longer or irregular periods, go to ask for Plan B any time their period takes more than 29 days to arrive (some of them not having had intercourse during that month!). Stupidity like that gets (hopefully) stopped with information, and the person who’s supposed to provide that information is the pharmacist.
It’s in that middle ground of medication; if you’re over 17 in most (all?) states, it can be purchased without a prescription, but it must be stocked behind the pharmacy so you have to ask a pharmacist to get it for you.
I have no idea. I’ve never heard of this, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true somewhere.