In mid-October, the school board of a King Middle school in Portland, Maine voted 5 to 2 to approve the distribution of birth control prescriptions to students through the health clinic within the middle school. Students do not need parental permission to receive the prescription although they do need parental permission to visit the clinic.The prescription would be given following a physical exam by a physician or a nurse practitioner. The school's health clinic, which is paid for by the city, has been distributing condoms since 2002.
The reason the school did this was to help students that were already sexually active prevent pregnancy. Not to help them with out of wack hormones as I originally thought. Turns out that last year, out of 134 students who visited the clinic at the middle school, 5 students voluntarily told the health clinic that they had had sexually intercourse. That's almost 4%.
There is precedence for this decision. Baltimore's middle schoolers have had access to birht control prescriptions through school-based clinics for over 20 years. In Baltimore, there were 113 births to girls under age 15, which decreased to 44 in 2005.
I fully support this decision. Despite the fact that I think its completely inappropriate for middle schoolers to be having sex under any circumstances, I certainly don't want them pregnant.
As you could guess, conservatives pundits like Glen Beck and Bill O'Reilly were up in arms. If you saw either of them on Good Morning America in the last two weeks you know what I mean. Glen Beck was supposed to be the opposing side of a debate on the issue. Personally, I dont see Glen Beck as an expert on sex education. The main arguments both of them posed (more like shouted) was that distributing birth control to middle schoolers encourages sexual activity and that it goes against parental rights (to control their children).
Students at this school were already sexually active. However inappropriate that is, obviously not giving out prescription birth control isn't going to stop them. If they really want to help these students delay sexual activity, Beck and O'Reilly should encourage the school to have discussions with all students about healthy relationships and when any kind of sexual activity is appropriate.
When the students involved are such a young age, the issue of parental rights gets tricky for me. I can definitely say that high school age students should be able to obtain birth control, STD testing, the morning after pill, and abortions without parental permission. That said, middle schoolers shouldn't be having sex at all. When I say that I mean that they can't be emotionally mature enough to understand what they are doing and why they are doing it. Chances are that if a girl as young as 11 (6th grade) is having sex, its with someone significantly older, like someone in high school, or (worst case scenario) with someone sexually abusive like a family member, family friend, or neighbor. All of the previously listed situations are inappropriate and need to be prevented or dealt with. Be that as it may, I still agree with the prescriptions for birth control being kept confidential from parents. And if Maryland and Maine are anything like California, if any sort of abusive or illegal relationship is suspected, clinic workers should be required by law to report it.
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/middle-school-in-maine-to-offer-birth/n2007...
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/baltimore-middle-schoolers-have-long-had/n2...
i don't know, why do you watch those show anyways? just ignore them and they will go away.
Why was I watching Good Morning America? Because it was 9:00 am and I was looking for some news. Glen Beck and Bill O'Reilly just happened to be guests on the show on the separate occasions when I chose to watch it.
Common sense is as rare as genius. ~Emerson
Children are not the children that were around in the 50s or even the 60s. I don't know why it is hard for people to understand that your little girl or boy have stop being little boys and girls at age 10. The tweens are now the teens and the teens are the younger adults. It is sad but that is society.
The school's decision is a one that coincides with the times thus is necessary.
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth!~JFK
I'm having trouble wraping my mind around this one. . .eleven? They are SO young. They aren't even remotely mature enough to be having sex, whatever happened to cooties? I agree that they should be able to use birth control if they are sexually active, and that they should get as much emotional support as is avaliable. Just think, some people think we shouldn't teach sex education in school.
i dont think that it is right for 11 year old to HAVE to take birth control
especially because theyre having sex
thats way too young to be doing stuff like that
BUT i guess if its the only thing for them, then what choice is there?
if theyre going to have sex might as well try and protect them a little while you can.
if you cant stop them from having sex
its a shame that kids that young are becoming this..
Before you mentioned it in your blog post I was thinking of posing this question: Wouldn't introducing the middle schoolers lead to more sex, and therefore more accidental pregnancies (if the pill was forgotten)?
The thought of middle schoolers being sexually active is a scary thought. I mean, I've only just graduated high school not too long ago but I think of middle schoolers as little kids. Like you said, they can't be mature enough to deal with this.
But maybe the birth control is a good idea. Maybe instead of increasing sexual behavior, it can cause a lot of good because it leads to less pregnancies.
It is a scary thought to imagine middle schoolers being sexually active. I can imagine situations where middle schoolers are having sex and none of them are healthy ones. I would tend to guess that more middle school girls are sexually active than boys, only because I could see emotional and self-image issues manifesting themselves in sexual behavior. I could see middle school girls having sex with older, high school-aged boyfriends or girls thinking that they needed to have sex with a boy they had a crush on in order to keep his interest. Its harder for me to imagine reasons why a middle school-aged boy would be having sex, but maybe that's because I'm not a guy.
Common sense is as rare as genius. ~Emerson
Maybe social pressures. Trying to be cool.
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth!~JFK
Good point.
Common sense is as rare as genius. ~Emerson
I see both pros and cons on this issue. However, despite the obvious points...birth control pills can have some changes in the girls' hormones if they use it way too often, right? I remember an older teammate of mine warned me about birth control pills because something about her body changed. I do not remember what it is. Can anyone check this out? I cannot find information about how girls' hormones can be affected by birth control pills...but I am sure it is possible.
Giving out condoms to boys is one thing because they don't have to swallow condoms into their bodies. Girls, however, have to consume birth control pills into their system. I'm not so sure if that's fair. lol
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Birth control pills are hormones, so yes, they do affect girls' hormones. The pill does cause some water weight gain in some women. That's the only kind of body change I've ever heard off involving use of the pill.
Common sense is as rare as genius. ~Emerson
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In mid-October, the school board of a King Middle school in Portland, Maine voted 5 to 2 to approve the distribution of birth control prescriptions to students through the health clinic within the middle school. Students do not need parental permission to receive the prescription although they do need parental permission to visit the clinic.The prescription would be given following a physical exam by a physician or a nurse practitioner. The school's health clinic, which is paid for by the city, has been distributing condoms since 2002. ... Be that as it may, I still agree with the prescriptions for birth control being kept confidential from parents.
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/middle-school-in-maine-to-offer-birth/n2007...
OK - You had me for a few moments until you said the agree with confidential nonsense. Excuse me for perhaps being some what old fashioned, BUT being the mom of two very responsible girls and a son tends to make me a little hot under the collar because secrecy of this nature is ridiculous! Sex is a life changing and potentially life altering little "secret". Kids today have little respect for adults as it is without essentially giving them 'carte blanche' on the birds and the bees. You said in one breath that they do not have the maturity to handle such affairs yet you still support privacy from the parent? THis makes no sense and to me is as bad if not worse than the family doctor saying that I (as a parent) am not entitled to any information that has to do with medical issues when the "child" is under MY care and financial responsibility until they are 18 or out of college.
I would be interested to know how many agree that IF I am footing the bill for their health, food, schooling, insurance, and more, how many feel It is more than my right as a parent to dictate what I want to know where ANY health issue is concerned; and this includes birth control of ANY kind. An 11 year old has no business pursuing sexual encounters and to me if they are, this rpresents a huge breakdown in the parent/child relationship including trust, respect, and character; all of which will be made worse by the "privacy act" in schools.
WHere do they get off? They tell me they can't afford, books, paper, pencils, field trips, music, gym and yet they can afford to jeopardize family unity while spending our tax money on contrception we are not supposedly entitled to know about?
The so called privacy laws seem to encourage the break down of parent/child relationships because the kids seem to think they have the upper hand - if you hit them, they cry abuse, if you yell at them, they claim mental anguish, if you withhold anything they have a tantrum and refuse to take "No" for an answer...They can even essentially "divorce" parents! Isnt enough that laws have taken discipline out of th schools and from the teachers to even gain control in their own classrooms? How much more difficult or impossible is this wonderful law crunching society going to make raising a child when our hands are being tied and we can;t even expect an open and honest conversation and building mutual respect with our kids? I don't get it. I was raised to honor and respect my elders but it was also stressed to honor and respect yourself first - sex was something you didn't worry about until 10th or 11th grade at the earliest when you were trying to get a boy to dance with you and the guys were trying to "cop a feel" at the movies...I just don't get it...
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/baltimore-middle-schoolers-have-long-had/n20071019105309990013
Terry H. (Charlotte, NC)
I wrote this quite a while ago, so I actually had to go reread it myself.
It seems like you're really mad about a teen's right to medical privacy in general, especially when you're the parent. I'm going to suspend the discussion about the middle schoolers for a minute and just talk about high school-aged teens. When teens decide to have sex, they're making an adult decision. At that point they are taking concern for their safety and well-being into their own hands and exposing themselves to adult-type consequences. At that point they should be in charge of the medical decisions regarding their sexual activity. If they choose to involve their parents, its their decision. A parent's desire to control their child's life should be out of the equation.
Now, back to the middle schoolers. Pretty much the only reason I'm for privacy is that there are some cases where the students would be abused if their parent/guardian found out that they were involved in sexual activity.
Common sense is as rare as genius. ~Emerson
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