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Re: Maine middle school to offer birth control
PORTLAND, Maine - 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.
'It's very rare that middle schools do this,' said Divya Mohan, a spokeswoman for the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care.
The Portland School Committee voted 7-2 for the measure.
Chairman John Coyne voted against it, saying he felt providing the birth control was a parental responsibility. The other no vote came from Ben Meiklejohn, who said the consent form does not clearly define the services being offered.
Opponents cited religious and health objections.
Diane Miller said she felt the plan was against religion and against God. Another opponent, Peter Doyle, said he felt it violated the rights of parents and puts students at risk of cancer because of hormones in the pill.
A supporter, Richard Verrier, said it's not enough to depend on parents to protect their children because there may be students who can't discuss things with their parents.
Parental permission required
Condoms have been available since 2000 to King students who have parental permission to be treated at its student health center.
About one-fourth of student health centers that serve at least one grade of adolescents 11 and older dispense some form of contraception, said Mohan, whose Washington-based organization represents more than 1,700 school-based centers nationwide.
At King Middle School, birth control prescriptions will be given after a student undergoes a physical exam by a physician or nurse practitioner, said Lisa Belanger, who oversees Portland's student health centers.
Students treated at the centers must first get written parental permission, but under state law such treatment is confidential, and students decide for themselves whether to tell their parents about the services they receive.
Five of the 134 students who visited King's health center during the 2006-07 school year reported having sexual intercourse, said Amanda Rowe, lead nurse in Portland's school health centers.
A high school in Topeka, Kan., stopped providing free condoms to students Wednesday after district officials learned of the month-old program. The district has a policy against providing contraceptives.
Re: Maine middle school to offer birth control
Its official. Society has now permanently flushed itself down the toilet. We live in an era where 11 year old girls have received a seal of approval to have sex, and get school backing to do it without parental knowledge. Disgusting. Do people really wonder why kids have sex? Or the fact sex offenders cruise schools? Isn't it obvious?
They might as well just start handing out condoms to five year olds. Its leading in that direction, so why delay the inevitable?
I'm never having children. Our society is too far gone.
Re: Maine middle school to offer birth control
It's a double edged sword. A friend of mine's wife is a seventh grade teacher. She'd had, I think, around five pregnant students, and that was at least a year ago we had that discussion.
They're obviously doing it, so giving them rubbers isn't going to do anything but help.
Re: Maine middle school to offer birth control
They might do it, but schools don't need to encourage it.
If society is to the point where 11 year old girls are having promiscuous sex, its time we all take a look at our values. The world needs to stop obsessing over what Britney Spears is wearing today, stop downloading online porn, and many other shallow and self indulgent things long enough to figure out what is wrong.
Giving rubbers doesn't help. It encourages the behavior, and condoms are not 100% effective. They're not when adults use them, so I doubt the percentage of protection goes up when 11 year olds use them.
Also, using birth control pills increases the chance of stroke, heart attacks,etc., regardless of the age of the user. If I had children, I would be appalled at the possibility of schools handing out birth control pills like candy to my kid so they can screw anything that moves.
Our society has literally went off the cliff. There's no hope left.
No wonder american kids are now dumber than they've ever been. Test scores prove this. We're approaching third world standards.
Instead of schools revolving around knowledge, it revolves around sex.
- DoubleTalkingJive
- Rep: 74
Re: Maine middle school to offer birth control
middle school is a bit young for this, 16 and on is a more appropriate age. I mean lets face it, most girls start having sex that young, I know I broke my cherry at that age. Although, I am a bigger fan of condoms at schools, not birth control. That is going to eliminate the use of condoms and that is NOT good. Teen boys who know that girls can get pills at school are not going to wear condoms.
Re: Maine middle school to offer birth control
This country is going to see a huge spike in cases of AIDS and herpes. Not just in teens, but in the older men who screw the teens.
one in every five teens in this country already has herpes. Are they aiming for three out of five?
- BurningHills
- Rep: 15
Re: Maine middle school to offer birth control
Fucked up - that is all.
I have cousins that age, and I don't even want to IMAGINE what do or don't know about sex.
I'm with DTJ - high schools are more appropriate to pass this kind of stuff around in, NOT middle schools.
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