Middle School Birth Control Approved
By Michael F. Haverluck
CBNNews.com
October 19, 2007
CBNNews.com - More than algebra and history are being offered at one middle school.
In a story making many parents wonder who's running the schools, a Maine middle school made the decision Wednesday to freely give its 11- through 13-year-old students birth control pills and patches upon request.
Watch for more from Matt Barber from Concerned Women for America, following this report.
To receive these items, students need only be enrolled in the school's health center.
But the local school board of King Middle School didn't stop there. The state's Department of Health and Human Services reports that the plan allows students to choose from a wide array of other contraceptives as well.
City health officials made the program available to the school, where 6th, 7th and 8th graders can get contraceptives from the student health center without parental consent.
For their children to receive treatment at the health center, parents must sign a consent form, but specifics on the services provided are considered confidential and between the doctor and patient.
In other words, parents don't need to know.
More than 25 percent of King's 510 students are enrolled at the health center.
Taking advantage of parental permission to be treated there, King students have been able to obtain condoms from the school's health center since 2002.
After a doctor or nurse practitioner examines a student, he or she can receive prescriptions for birth control, stated the head of Portland's student health centers, Lisa Belanger.
Who's in Control?
Though an overwhelming majority of parents objected to the plan at the school's Wednesday night meeting, only two of the seven school board members did not approve the plan.
One dissenting board member said contraception is the parents' responsibility, and the other argued that the services being offered weren't clearly stated.
But parental opposition runs much stronger than this.
"This is people making money off of kids having sex," said one anonymous mother from Riverton, New Jersey. "These people are disgusting. They expose our children to all kinds of sexually explicit materials in movies, songs, on TV, in schools. Then they 'teach' sex education in schools, provide protection or contraception, knowing full well that kids are immature and won't use it or will use it incorrectly. Then they provide them abortions and start the process all over again."
Countering this view, Richard Verrier says schools need to protect students who cannot discuss such matters with their parents nor depend on them for protection.
"This is a service that is totally needed," said Portland's school health centers lead nurse, Amanda Rowe. "It's about very few kids, but they are kids who don't have the same opportunities and access as other students."
Just how few kids?
According to Rowe's report, only five of the 134 students who came to the middle school's health center last year said that they had engaged in sexual intercourse.
Nancy Birkhimer, the director of teen health programs for the Maine's Department of Health and Human Services, pointed out that a 2005 Maine Youth Risk Behavior Survey revealed 13 percent of the state's middle school students have had sexual intercourse.
"Thirteen percent is still more than one in 10 students," she said.
Even though spokeswoman Divya Mohan, of the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care, said it is not common for middle schools to offer this plan, she noted that contraceptives are available at 25 percent of 1,700 student health centers in schools enrolling students 11 years of age and older.
About 44 percent of 2,877 students were eligible to attend the seven health centers in Portland enrolled last year, making contraceptives available to nearly half of the student population.
Do Taxpayers Support Promiscuity?
Exactly where do these health centers get their funding?
In Maine, 20 out of 27 operate under state funds, said Birkhimer.
Belanger reported that in 2006, Portland's health care centers cost $500,000 to operate, with funding provided by state and foundation grants, MaineCare/Medicaid and private health insurance reimbursements, as well as contributions from municipalities.
Sources: Portland Press Herald, The Associated Press, CBN News, NBC
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