Fifteen

I had a friend in college who turned to her out-of-state physician father when she was desperate. She needed a script for the morning-after pill. Awkward? Yes, but girlfriend maturely picked up that phone and asked mom to hand the phone to dad. Not once, but twice. It's tough being a girl.

It was announced last night that one brand of the morning-after pill, Plan B, will be available over the counter to women 15 and older. They dropped the age from 17 to 15.

Fifteen.

The fact that more childbearing-aged women now have access to Plan B is excellent. But am I in the minority as someone who finds the idea of girls being sexually active at this age downright scary? I mean, have you ever met a 15-year-old? One that was emotionally prepared for sex? Because I certainly haven't. And I interact with more kids in this age group than most people my age! Also, do you know how many pimples they have? Braces? How surprisingly awkward and gawky and downright kiddish they all look? Humans look like we're 13 until we near 20. I'll tell you what: the power of raging hormones sure is something.

It doesn't seem right that our bodies are ready to conceive at an age when we aren't emotionally prepared or socially ready to handle the task of raising offspring.  Why are our biological time clocks so off synch with our social expectations? There's not a single American in their right mind that would endorse a girl getting pregnant when she's fifteen, and yet, she could have been menstruating for years by then. In other words, why are we fertile when we are ourselves still children?

While evolution's catching up, Mayor Bloomberg is trying to scare our teenagers into not getting pregnant. The message is pretty brutal. NYC currently has a public campaign that plasters the faces of the most adorable, but miserable-looking toddlers inside subways and buses.  These children have been haunting me for weeks now. I try to turn my back to them when I'm on the train because they're that distressing. You can check out the ads here {+}. The one that hit me the hardest was the one that reads, "Honestly, Mom... chances are he won't stay with you. What happens to me?" Wow.