Since when did schools become parents?
Oct 26, 2007
Just last week, King Middle School in Portland, Maine won a vote to distribute birth control pills to students as young as 11 years old after a health exam. Parents still have to approve the student’s access to the health center, but the student does not need approval for treatment itself. State law says that treatment is confidential, even to parents, so it is up to the student to tell their parents what services they received. An important fact to be aware of: three middle schools in Portland, Maine have reported 17 pregnancies in the last four years. Full story
I don’t have a child, nor do I have experience with raising a child, but I think this is messed up! Parents should know exactly what is going on with their children. I don’t think parents should be stripped away from that privilege. They gave birth to the child, not the schools! Why can the schools know what the child is up to, but not the parents?
However, I do understand that kids can have a hard time approaching their parents about this kind of subject. As a teen, I was not comfortable discussing any personal stuff with my mother. I felt she had no right to know my business. You know the regular teen stuff. Also, there’s a lot of peer pressure in schools. Students want to fit in, so they fall into certain actions without thinking about consequences. They are too young to understand, so they will do what they want to, regardless of what a parent says.
Therefore, I do support the student’s access to contraception, but to a limit. Condoms should be the limit. Go ahead – throw free condoms to schools like it grows on trees! Condoms promote safety – there’s a lot of STD’s going around. Birth control doesn’t protect you from STD’s. The pills just promote child-free bellies. Honestly, I don’t know if I would want my child to be on birth control as young as 11 years old because then it could in some way encourage her to be sexually active on a regular basis. It’s like saying “Hey, go ahead, just pop these pills everyday and be promiscuous at such a young age! It’s all the rage! You don’t need condoms!” That’s just going to result in more STD issues.
Plus, I shudder to imagine what the birth control effects are on girls who haven’t even finished puberty. I tried to Google some studies on this, but came up with almost nothing. There are not enough studies, or any research to assure that it is okay health-wise.
My main point - I do not support keeping parents in the dark when their child receives birth control. It’s a parents job to raise the child the best they can, and that is looking out for their best interest. If a child goes to the health center and receives birth control, I think the parents should be informed. Period.
One Portland School Committee member, Benjamin Meiklejohn, has a proposal that he wants the committee to consider on November 7th. His proposal would allow parents to block birth control access to their children. I’m curious to see what happens with that or any upcoming proposals.
