I do not think education officials should make birth control pills available for females as young as 11. When putting young children of this age on birth control, they are at risk of getting a serious illness because we do not know what type of side effects the pills will have on young children. It is also a bad decision to make because, when you put the child on the pill, she will probably start thinking that it is okay to have sex because she has a 99.9 percent chance of not getting pregnant. The child will also think it will be okay not to use a condom, not knowing she will be at risk of getting a sexually transmitted disease.

I agree with the conclusions that Pastor Antonio and Lady Cathy Gathers of Life Cathedral Ministries made, except they left out one conclusion that I believe is the main reason for the vulnerability of girls. The point that they are missing is that girls become vulnerable when a guy tells them all the things they want to hear. These things could be telling them how good they look, telling them they love them, and also telling them that they do not love them unless they have sex. All these things could make a girl fall for them. But I can say by experience, the only way a girl won't fall for the things he says is if she has been told those things in her home while she was growing up.

I can say that I appreciate my mother for letting me know how cute I look, because when a guy comes up to me telling me what I already know, I tell him to come up with something new. If more parents can compliment their girls on how they look, I believe the teen pregnancy rate will decrease a great deal. Young ladies will start realizing that they do not have to befoul their temple to find love. Just wait and it will happen in due time.

Chequira McQuilla of Sumter is a student at South Carolina State University.

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