Your friends' situation demonstrates that penetrating nature of this issue. I do agree that abortion should be safely, easily, and inexpensively available. An unexpected pregnancy has the power to splinter backwards and forwards through generations. I feel like a strong part of the consequences that come from unwanted pregnancies are the product of our society's antiquated inhibitions and mores about human sexuality and biology. The need to pretend that we are not sexual creatures and to feign shock when anyone does anything remotely sexual, and to pretend that better folks are somehow able to feel nothing sexual has done horrific things to our cultural fabric. It has been going on so long that the negative effects of it for individuals, families, and communities have become ingrained in us. It can feel as though our attitudes about sexuality are inherent to us, rather than learned. If we want a more healthful way of being, we will have to find ways to normalize matters of sex and libido for ourselves and our families. A teenager, driven by romance and basic horniness, should not be forced to discover the realities of their sexuality and the falsities of society by trial and error, particularly when the first trial can turn out to be such a grievous error.