The topic of sexually transmitted diseases has been very concerning for many years. But when minors are affected by it, a large amount of problems occurs. One of them is treating and testing minors for sexually transmitted diseases without their parental consent. And since there may be a number of reasons why minors may be discreet about it, there are ethical issues tied to the discourse.
Justice
Minors should be treated and tested for those diseases, because such conditions can be very life-threatening to anyone regardless of age. According to statistics, people aged 15-24 represent 13 percent of the population; they also represent 62 percent of Chlamydia cases, 42 percent – gonorrhea, 22 percent – syphilis (Keller, 2020). Moreover, some groups are even more heavily impacted by this issue: black, Hispanic and Native minors. Underage people are at risk of STIs due to a set of different reasons, including lack of education on the matter.
Beneficence
Another concerning factor that plays a significant role in this issue is the nature of STIs. The majority of STIs are either asymptomatic or very hard to detect. This is why patients need to have routine screenings if there is a risk of an STI diagnosis (Keller, 2020). However, there are two rather concerning issues: minors may have inflexible schedules and some sexually transmitted infections are incurable.
Non-maleficence, fidelity and autonomy
Due to the severity of sexually transmitted diseases, it is very important for doctors to provide minors with the necessary care. In this case, professionals should provide a safe space for underage patients to be able to freely discuss their concerns and cope with the possible outcomes (Keller, 2020). Also, proper treatment should be provided to them to prevent probable negative consequences. Another significant issue in this problem is the minors’ autonomy.
They need to be able to talk about their disorders even if their parents did not consent to those appointments. However, there are laws in eighteen states that make it harder for minors to consult doctors and for the latter to provide underage patients with autonomy (Keller, 2020). These laws set a significant age barrier before minors can independently consent to STI care and force doctors to violate the underage patients’ autonomy by reporting said cases to their parents.
Accountability
It is also very important for doctors to prevent the contraction of STIs and their further spread. In order to do that, doctors can provide vaccines, condoms, partner therapy.
Currently, condoms are the most common method of STI prevention, but they are not suitable for everyone (Keller, 2020). The fact that this is the most accessible method makes the situation even more complicated. Another method of preventing sexually transmitted infections is vaccination. However, it is important to mention that nowadays vaccines only prevent the following diseases: hepatitis A and B and some strains of HPV.
Opposing positions
Some people believe that there is one rather simple way to prevent STIs – abstinence. It is seen as a rather uncompromising approach to the prevention of such disorders. The method’s supporters believe that lack of sexual activity may prevent such problems (Keller, 2020). Some may also believe that minors are not supposed to be aware of or take interest in such topics before they are married adults.
This method withholds valuable information from minors, which promotes stigma towards STIs. That way, underage patients are too embarrassed to seek the medical help they may need if they feel something is wrong (Keller, 2020). Moreover, they are at risk of being misinformed on the matter.
In conclusion, minors seeking treatment for STIs is a rather concerning issue, for they represent the majority of STI cases. In order for them to feel safe to discuss those topics, they need autonomy and safe spaces, so that they could get the care they need or prevent the contraction of STIs altogether. However, a large number of laws prevents them from getting treatment by depriving them of said needs. Abstinence supporters believe that their method is the most effective, but it withholds valuable information from minors. This, in turn, leads to the further deterioration of the situation.
Reference
Keller, L.H. (2020) Reducing STI cases: Young people deserve better sexual health information and services. (Vol. 23) Guttmacher Policy Review. Guttmacher Institute.