Middle School to Hand Out Birth Control
A Portland Maine school board approved a measure allowing middle-school students to have access to prescription birth control without notifying parents. The plan which was approved in all but two members of the board allows the King Middle School to provide birth-control medications and counseling for sexually transmitted diseases.
Of course not all parents are involved in their children’s lives to know if their child even has a boyfriend or girlfriend. Maybe even some parents are involved but they could never let themselves believe that their children could be sexually active. I am just not sure how I feel about birth control being handed out to young children without parental knowledge.
I think sexual education is very important in schools. I think children in middle school should know about stds, health issues, and the emotional impact of having a sexual relationship. I think this should be a conversation that takes place both at schools and at home. I realize that many times it does not take place at home and maybe only on a rudimentary level at school. I applaud the Portland schools for stepping up and going beyond entry level health issues.
I know that I wouldn’t want my children to be given birth control without my knowledge. I also know if kids are aware their parents will be told they have been given birth control that many kids wouldn’t take birth control and engage in risky behaviors anyway. I am also aware that kids will find a way to do what they want to do.
I am just not sure what the middle ground is. I think our daughters are oversexualized at a younger and younger age. As paretns we need to let our daughters dress approprietly for their age. We need to teach our sons and daughters to respect themselves and their bodies.
We need to start doing this right now, because it is already too late.
In the 2006-2007 school year out of the 134 Portland students polled 4% admitted to having sexual intercourse. Is this enough to start handing our birth control or is 1 child in middle school who has had sex enough to up the sexual education given?
Are we giving sexually active teens the tools they need to stay physically and emotionally healthy and safe?
I would love to hear from parents of teens and tweens, what do you think of this new policy in this middle school?
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October 19th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Oh this is such a bad idea ALL THE WAY AROUND! Birth control is a perscription drug, and some people have bad reactions to it! OMG people are IDIOTS!
October 19th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
[...] a Bit by Randi There’s an article up at another 451Press blog, Parenting Your Children. Apparently Portland, Maine, has decided that it’s quite alright to hand out birth control [...]
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:50 am
[...] I recently wrote about a Maine middle school who would like to pass out birth control without parental consent to its students. I have read some other articles about it as well. I am not in favor of schools giving any medication out to my children without my permission, there are many health risks involved with medicating anyone. I also don’t think a middle school child some who are as young as eleven years old are mature enough to remember to take a pill the same time every single day to prevent pregnancy. Also if we let eleven or twelve year olds have birth control are we lowering the age of consent? I think we are. Are condoms as readily available? I wonder if boys are being taught about STDs and prevent pregnancy as much as the girls are. Is taking a pill every day giving these children a false sense of security to prevent pregnancy but STDs? [...]