Maine Middle School to Offer the Pill
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Pupils at a city middle school will be able to get birth control pills and patches at their student health center after the local school board approved the proposal Wednesday evening.
The plan, offered by city health officials, makes King Middle School the first middle school in Maine to make a full range of contraception available to students in grades 6 through 8, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.
There are no national figures on how many middle schools, where most students range in age from 11 to 13, provide such services.
So here's the confusing part. In Maine, it is against the law for anyone under the age of 12 to have sexual relations under any circumstances. It is legal under the age of 14 only within a marital relationship.
Why would anyone want a 13 year old to get married? But that would be an entirely different post.
Back to the problem. So if an 11 year old in middle school requests birth control it is evidence that a crime is being committed. Even if a 14 year old requests birth control, it still very likely indicates a crime. The majority of sexually active 14 year olds are being exploited by someone more than 3 years older than themselves.
If the school is interested in "protecting" children, why actively concealing suspected child abuse and the commission of a crime?
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Related Tags: HPV, Sex Education, The Pill, Child Abuse
12 comments:
Rather than attempt to change a law they disagree with, they have chosen to simply ignore it. At least that is my take.
I do not understand how anyone thinks it is responsible to be doing this without parental consent. I know why they want to do it, but birth control pills can cause complications and a parent should be aware anytime medication is dispensed.
I'm really on the fence on this one. On one hand, sexual activity is starting at a younger age. If one is active they should be able to protect themselves. If this were about a high school I would be all for it. Some kids cannot talk to their parents about sexual matters ,or have acsess to protection. I'm all for any help in that matter. Whether parents "approve' or not is irrevelevent. They're going to "do it" anyway, they should be able to get protection. That being said, where do you draw the line? I wouldn't want my 11 year old getting anything from anyone with out my knowledge or consent. So what about when she's 13? Where do you draw the line? I guess the only thing to do is start educating EARLY so they're not in that boat. Whether leagal or not, if 12 year olds are having sex , they should have protection. Geez, makes you wonder where their parents are aye?
My point is if 12 year olds are having sex they need to be protected from older teens or adults who are exploiting them. Early sexual activity is a sign of abuse and neglect. A recent study reported that children who are ostracized by their classmates or "picked on" by their teachers may also be more likely than their peers to start having sex by the age of 13. Handing out birth control entirely ignores the problem and does nothing to truly "protect" the child. Preventing a pregnancy just makes it easier to ignore child abuse.
I'm a frequent visitor to this blog but I believe this is the first time I've ever commented, so....HI!
I also posted on this late last night along with another story out of Norway that made my head spin. My guess is that the majority of folks out there would share the same thoughts as Lisa on this issue (and probably a host of other "they're gonna do it anyway" issues), and that is what made me so concerned. But the point you raise about not getting to the root of the problem and uncovering possible abuse or expoitation is dead on. Sad to say, even if the powers that be raised such questions, it probably wouldn't fit into their agenda. We would first have to convince some out there that it is, in fact, a real "problem" that pre-teens are engaging in sex.
There is absolutely no one the fence about this at all, folks.
Birth control pills have side effects. They have drug interactions. A proper medical history is necessary to make sure you aren't going to *kill* people with them.
In what crazy land is it okay to give medication to other people's children without talking to them? Crap, most schools have make it against the rules for kids to bring their own tylenol for a headache, but they are capable of signing themselves up for birth control pills and taking them without their parents' knowledge?
That's completely insane and reprehensible. You don't even need to get into the legal and moral issues of the kids having sex at all to be repulsed by this.
After reading the article I looked at some of the comments. Seems like people were upset about such school/gov't control over their lives, but seemed complacent about it: "What can we do? We can't take the kids out of school..."
Prescribing hormones to kids without their parents consent is just unbelievable. I can't understand why parents continue to support an agency (gov't school) that would do such a thing.
One wonders if the school still bothers with getting parental permission slips for field trips or with bothering to send report cards home.
In the article in my paper, it indicated that parents could choose to sign up their children for the health center. But once signed up, the parents did not have a right to know how or for what the students were being treated. I wonder if the school assumes liability for undiagnosed and untreated STDs?
>I also posted on this late last night along with another story out of Norway that made my head spin.
Wow, that Norway article is mind boggling. What is the world coming to?
The reason the school says it's doing this is that 5 out of 134 kids they serve are sexually active. Granted, that even a single child is having sex so young is disturbing. However, 96% of their students are NOT having sex, so I fail to see why they feel there is a real "need" to offer contraception. Not that I think any schools should dispense birth control pills at all but one could at least see where the other side is coming from if it were a high school where the majority of teens are sexually active.
I believe this subject, in general, and this incident in maine's government schools, in particular, serves as an excellent reason for the title of this blog - Why Homeschool.
But your question "If the school is interested in 'protecting' children, why actively conceal suspected child abuse and the commission of a crime?" only alludes to a more potent question which should scream from the mouth every tax payer: Why on earth should a government school be concerned with providing or administering health care for children??!!
In a day and age of politicains, lawyers, CYA & over regulation that prevents a school nurse from even issuing an asprin to a child w/o a dr's. prescription, why have certain segments of our society deemed themselves the over seeers of our children's reproductive health and what insanity has gripped those parents who have ceeded such authority to those strangers outside the family??!
Add to this pathology of 'big brother mothering our children', the intrusion of government school employed perverts who prey on our children, and indeed, the deadly urgent rhetorical question is, "Why Homeschool!??"
Wake up, America.
Meanwhile, the numbers of students being molested by teachers is growing by leaps and bounds. It seems as if this will enable more predators in the schools.
Green Darner
This reminds me of a post I did last year called Interesting Report on Educator Sexual Misconduct.
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