Doctors need parental consent to prescribe birth control, STD medication for minors

The 6-3 vote by the House Health Committee came over objections by some individuals who said such a blanket proposal would create health and pregnancy risks for some teens.

Patti Jo Angelini, director of the Arizona Coalition on Adolescent Pregnancy and Parenting, said teens will continue to have sex, with or without birth control. Figures from a state Department of Education survey last year showed that 28 percent of ninth graders - and 62 percent of high school seniors - have had sex.

And Charlotte Harrison, executive director of the Arizona Family Planning Council, said the measure could result in some teens not getting treated for sexually transmitted diseases.

But House Majority Leader Steve Tully, the father of four girls, said the current system essentially allows a doctor who may have seen a child for only a short time to make important medical decisions.

"I'm in a better position that a doctor to weight what is best for my daughters," said the Phoenix Republican.

Tully said the issue was brought to him by a constituent, a single father who learned his daughter was using birth control pills. "He didn't understand how someone could give his daughter prescription medications without his knowing this is going on," Tully said.

Rep. Laura Knaperek, R-Tempe, said the problem of doctors prescribing medications to teens is just a piece of a larger problem.

Knaperek, who has six children, said she is disturbed when a pediatrician takes a youngster into another room to ask questions, often about drug use or sexual activity. "That sends the message to the child that they don't need to speak to the parent," she said.

But Peggy Stemmler, with the Arizona chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said there's a good reason for that.

"Teens will often disclose things to the physician when the parent is not present" she told lawmakers. Stemmler said these involve issues that if left untreated can affect a child's health.

The measure now goes to the full House.