Yesterday in Maine, the Portland School Board approved for middle school children to access prescription birth control medications without parent notification.
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Of the 500 students attending King Middle School, 5 were identified as being sexually active.
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This new program is designed to protect the children from sexually transmitted diseases.
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This new program is designed to protect the children from sexually transmitted diseases.
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Pat Patterson, the medical director of School-Based Health Centers, said “It has been shown, over and over again, that this does not increase sexual activity.”
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There was much debate and discussion leading up to the decision where ten of the twelve board members voted for the program's approval. For the full article, access the NYTimes by clicking here.
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Second Epinion: First, I'd like to ask ol' Pat where she finds her information. Giving birth control to kids will never encourage them to be less sexually active. On the other hand, I do see how the board is trying to protect these adolescents. This debate goes along similar lines of legalizing maijuana. There are the pros and cons to both sides, so what should we do? As a reader of this site, what do you think about this recent birth control approval? Please leave us a comment of your epinion.
4 comments:
Since we live in Maine, we've obviously heard a lot about this. Its not exactly true that kids at King could get birth control without any parental consent whatsoever. The parents need to sign a consent form to allow their children to be treated at King's Student Health Center. Maine law then provides confidential care for reproductive health, mental health and substance abuse issues. This is clearly stated in the consent form the parent must sign. And when the pill is available, parents will need to sign a new consent form with this information included. Its not the case that any middle schooler could walk into the clinic and leave with the pill.
I don't know exactly where Pat Patterson's stats come from either, but it has been shown that making birth control unavailable doesn't keep minors from having sex. It just increases STDs and teen pregnancy. And it has been shown that if parental permission is needed, fewer minors will take advantage of the access to birth control.
Minors are having sex. Instead of ignoring the fact, I'm glad Maine is giving them some resources so they can do so safely.
Also, Maine is not the first school to do this. 25% of the 1,700 school-connected health centers in the US offer birth control.
Well, I have to chime and leave my humble opinion.
I contend that this policy is ridiculous. How many kids having sex between the ages of between the ages of 11 and 14 (middle school age) have parents that know what their kids are doing. Those are exactly the parents that the school is asking for a consent form from. I guess this makes it true that those same parents aren't going to help protect their kids from STDs. So yes, those kids need help. But isn't there a different way than by advertising birth control to 11-14 year olds.
The issue for all the outrage is that when a school advertises these things to kids, it's basically telling them that some sexual activity is going on among their peers. Who knows how that will be interpreted. At first, it might be "Oh, are kids doing that?" A few years later it would be "Well, they passed it out in middle school. now that I'm in High school, I surely can do it whenever I want." Even if it really doesn't statistically lead to sexual activity, it's been implanted in their heads. I remember feeling surprised when I found out the RA of my COLLEGE DORM was passing out birth control. This is with 11-14 year olds.
I don't agree that it's a good idea for the middle school students as a whole.
From my standpoint, I see a school board telling the students that having sex is all fine an' dandy.
Imagine the kids going to their sex ed class, where their teacher tells them that it is not good to have sex so early and that there are many severe consequences...STDs, pregnancy, etc... However at the end of class, the teacher says that if they are having sex or are planning to have sex, then they can get "protection".
In essence, this is telling them that there are no consequences for having sex. The teachers are contradicting themselves. So I do not see how giving out birth control won't lead to increased sexual activity. It gives greater leeway for promiscuity.
I agree with the fact that advertising birth control to this young kids is not the best solution because it's like saying "It's okay to have sex at that age." Sex unforunately has become such a casual activity these days even among the young. There are consequences and it seems that when birth control pills are given freely then these consequences are removed.
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