Contraceptives for 12 Year-Olds?

Here's Mark in Irvine, in the comments from my post on the latest left-wing backlash to Sarah Palin, "Save Turkeys, Kill Fetuses: The Left's Response to Sarah Palin":

If you are concerned about abortion (as I am) you can help reduce the number of abortions by promoting universal sex education and availability of contraception NO QUESTIONS ASKED for all people of reproductive age. It won't eliminate abortion, but the more people who know how to avoid pregnancy, the more pregnancies will be avoided, and the fewer people will be in the "market" for abortion.

Think about that: "People of all reproductive age" includes girls at 12 year-old and younger (see, "When Little Girls Become Women: Early Onset of Puberty in Girls").

I simply can't fathom why anyone would want make contraceptives available to adolescents, unless people have completely given up on the notion of delaying pregnancy until adulthood.

Early pregnancy is one of the greatest indicators of life-long poverty for woman. The phenomenon imposes tremendous material and moral costs on socity, and reducing such pregnancies has been considered a national priority. Here's this from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy:

Teen pregnancy is closely linked to a host of other critical social issues — poverty and income, overall child well-being, out-of-wedlock births, responsible fatherhood, health issues, education, child welfare, and other risky behavior. There are also substantial public costs associated with adolescent childbearing. Consequently, teen pregnancy should be viewed not only as a reproductive health issue, but as one that works to improve all of these measures. Simply put, if more children in this country were born to parents who are ready and able to care for them, we would see a significant reduction in a host of social problems afflicting children in the United States, from school failure and crime to child abuse and neglect.

Access to contraceptives is one alternative to preventing teenage pregnancy.

On top of any list of remedies should be adolescent education in sexual abstinence, and, frankly, the restoration strong family traditions that encourage young people to delay sexual gratification until marriage (and if marriage is passe, then until after high school).

The fact the Mark in Irvine doesn't mention any other possible preventative measures perhaps reflects how much traditional values are spurned among those on the left of the political spectrum.