Middle school offers birth control to sexually active students

InfinityGoddess

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http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/10/18/middleschool.contraception.ap/index.html

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- After an outbreak of pregnancies among middle school girls, education officials in this city have decided to allow a school health center to make birth control pills available to girls as young as 11.
Maine's King Middle School is the first in the state to offer full range of contraceptives to 6th-8th graders.

King Middle School will become the first middle school in Maine to make a full range of contraception available, including birth control pills and patches. Condoms have been available at King's health center since 2000.


Students need parental permission to access the school's health center. But treatment is confidential under state law, which allows the students to decide whether to inform their parents about the services they receive.
There are no national figures on how many middle schools provide such services. Most middle schoolers range in age from 11 to 13.
 

DonnaDuck

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Unfortunately you can't put a chastity belt on a kid and lock them up. All you can do is instill the right morals in them and pray to whatever god that exists that they make the right decisions. I think the parents are partly to blame for this. While they can't be with their children every step of the way, they need to inform them of the risks of having sex at such a young age. It happened when I was in middle school (12 years ago) but nowhere near as rampant as it is now. Hell, scare them into abstinence if you have to! 11 is too young to be having sex but, like I said, you can't be with them every second of the day and the sex choices they make are part them and par their parents. As a parent, you go as far as you can and hope that your kid takes it the rest of the way wisely. But, if they are doing it (which they obviously are from the pregnancy rate), I would rather see them offering contraceptives and, more importantly informing them on the proper use of such methods (like taking the pill properly as opposed to popping five the morning after) than giving them nothing and standing on the abstinence-only method.
 

William Haskins

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so if you consent to your 11 year old using the school's health center (say, out of concern that she might fall at recess and split her head open) and during her visits, she's counseled and given birth control pills without your knowledge (since treatment is confidential), and your child develops heart disease, high blood pressure, blood clots or is afflicted by depression (all acknowledged and scientifically verified potential side effects), is the school or the state responsible for that?
 

InfinityGoddess

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But, if they are doing it (which they obviously are from the pregnancy rate), I would rather see them offering contraceptives and, more importantly informing them on the proper use of such methods (like taking the pill properly as opposed to popping five the morning after) than giving them nothing and standing on the abstinence-only method.

Especially when you consider "abstinence-only" doesn't work...

so if you consent to your 11 year old using the school's health center (say, out of concern that she might fall at recess and split her head open) and during her visits, she's counseled and given birth control pills without your knowledge (since treatment is confidential), and your child develops heart disease, high blood pressure, blood clots or is afflicted by depression (all acknowledged and scientifically verified potential side effects), is the school or the state responsible for that?

I think that the kids should be told of the risks of BC, as well as its benefits, and which option is best for them.

It also can't hurt to pass out some condoms to the boys, as well.
 
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PattiTheWicked

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I don't think it's anyone's job but mine to get my kid a checkup and a prescription.

And really, the parents who are opposed to their children using birth control are simply going to refuse to sign the consent form.
 

JoNightshade

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What I want to know is how it's at all fair that I have to pay every single month for my birth control and then visit my gyno every 6 months or she won't write me a prescription... and these kids get it handed to them with no questions asked! Where can I get a deal like that?
 

MarkEsq

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What I want to know is how it's at all fair that I have to pay every single month for my birth control and then visit my gyno every 6 months or she won't write me a prescription... and these kids get it handed to them with no questions asked! Where can I get a deal like that?


Boy, are you dumb.

Step One: Have a kid.
Step Two: Have your kid get free BC pills from school.
Step Three: Get uppity about BC pills being handed out free to your kids.
Step Four: Confiscate said pills.
Step Five: Swallow said pills.
Step Six: Have lots of sex.
 

dolores haze

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How come they always medicate the girls when there's an "outbreak" of pregnancies? How come there are a plethora of hormonal treatments to prevent females from concieving, but nothing to prevent boys from impregnating? And are the middle school girls having sex with their peers, or older boys?
 

JoNightshade

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Boy, are you dumb.

Step One: Have a kid.
Step Two: Have your kid get free BC pills from school.
Step Three: Get uppity about BC pills being handed out free to your kids.
Step Four: Confiscate said pills.
Step Five: Swallow said pills.
Step Six: Have lots of sex.

Exactly.

I think insurance companies should make birth control pills free for people without kids. Seems like preventative health care to me.
 

William Haskins

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I think that the kids should be told of the risks of BC, as well as its benefits, and which option is best for them.

so you believe that an 11 year old is capable of fully understanding the risks and making the right choice and believe that such consent (again, from a pre-teen) should absolve the school and the state from legal liability resulting from such health risks?
 

JoNightshade

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How come they always medicate the girls when there's an "outbreak" of pregnancies? How come there are a plethora of hormonal treatments to prevent females from concieving, but nothing to prevent boys from impregnating? And are the middle school girls having sex with their peers, or older boys?

Ah, very good question. They should be testing all these babies and finding out where all the fathers are coming from.
 

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How come they always medicate the girls when there's an "outbreak" of pregnancies? How come there are a plethora of hormonal treatments to prevent females from concieving, but nothing to prevent boys from impregnating? And are the middle school girls having sex with their peers, or older boys?


Because it's slightly unethical to chemically castrate 11 year old boys? The thing is, most boys that age aren't even capable of producing valid swimmers. Boys normally don't hit puberty until they're about 14 so either there are some boys maturing prematurely or some serious bouts of sex with minors going on.
 

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The schools on the other hand don't think your middle school kid (or HS kid, for that matter) is intelligent enough to decide when they need to take 2 aspirin during the school day. And if they have a bad headache, or whatever, and go to the school nurse, they need signed parental consent on file, and they will CALL YOU to make sure it's all right to give the kid an OTC drug.

But yeah, the little girl (and I'm sorry, but even up through 8th grade, they're still little girls) who wants to have sex is A - smart enough to make that choice, and B - smart enough to decide that she wants to take a hormonal form of birth control that have numerous risks as William pointed out.

But whatever you do, don't give that same kid permission to carry and self-medicate with OTC meds! (I gotta confess, because of horrible headaches, I carried OTC meds with me in school, and knew when to take them all by myself.) Heck, they even hassle the poor asmatic kids as far as their prescription meds that they need to BREATHE go.

Just another example of lunacy.

Susan G.
 

Marlys

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What prevents boys from impregnating is condoms, and they've been available at the school since 2000 (see original post up top).

As far as ages go, I checked the school info for King Middle School and see that it covers grades 6, 7, and 8; that the cut-off date for enrollment is October 15; and that the school year runs through the middle of June. That means any 8th grader whose birthday falls on October 16th or later will be 14 by the end of the school year. Assuming a relatively equal distribution of birthdays, that's 2/3 of the class.

I just wanted to point out that we aren't just talking about 11-year-olds here.
 

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Boys have to put balloons on their weenies. I don't know any male who would prefer that to taking a pill.
 

Susan Gable

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Boys have to put balloons on their weenies. I don't know any male who would prefer that to taking a pill.

But condoms, unless you've got a latex allergy you didn't know about, don't have harmful side-effects.

And that's a damn important difference in "upping the stakes" here and following free condoms with free BC pills.

Susan G.
 

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IG, you posted the article. What are your thoughts on this?
How come they always medicate the girls when there's an "outbreak" of pregnancies? How come there are a plethora of hormonal treatments to prevent females from concieving, but nothing to prevent boys from impregnating? And are the middle school girls having sex with their peers, or older boys?


Because it's slightly unethical to chemically castrate 11 year old boys? The thing is, most boys that age aren't even capable of producing valid swimmers. Boys normally don't hit puberty until they're about 14 so either there are some boys maturing prematurely or some serious bouts of sex with minors going on.
Donna, I fail to see how this is a response to delores, who you quoted. A) CHemically castrate? Oooookay...but it's ok to give pills to girls? B) What does the timing of puberty have to do with this? Either the girls are with peers who matured fast, or with older boys (or men.)

Exactly.

I think insurance companies should make birth control pills free for people without kids. Seems like preventative health care to me.
I would love that. We even have a pharma plan, but they want us to mail order maintence drugs, and I'd have to get 3 months at a time, and I don't want to do that. I might not get them in time, I have to remember to plan far enough ahead to order the next batch, and I changed prescriptions mid year and if I had ordered 3 months worth I'd either have to wait to change or waste the two monthw worth, so I pay out of pocket.

The schools on the other hand don't think your middle school kid (or HS kid, for that matter) is intelligent enough to decide when they need to take 2 aspirin during the school day. And if they have a bad headache, or whatever, and go to the school nurse, they need signed parental consent on file, and they will CALL YOU to make sure it's all right to give the kid an OTC drug.
<Snip>
Just another example of lunacy.

Susan G.
I know. I used to carry ibuprophen for mentral cramps. Send me to the principal's office. It is a highly charged issue, that is for sure. I am not sure what the best answer is. Ideally, parents would educate their kids. But Even in Jr. High, I had a friend who got pregnant, by Man, even, not a boy. I don't know what the best solution is. I'mnot sure a school should play the role of pharmacist either.

But condoms, unless you've got a latex allergy you didn't know about, don't have harmful side-effects.

And that's a damn important difference in "upping the stakes" here and following free condoms with free BC pills.

Susan G.
Good point. There is a female condom, for instance.
 

dolores haze

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What prevents boys from impregnating is condoms, and they've been available at the school since 2000 (see original post up top).

Obviously, since there was an "outbreak" of pregnancies, condoms weren't being used, no matter how many years they've been available at the school.



As far as ages go, I checked the school info for King Middle School and see that it covers grades 6, 7, and 8; that the cut-off date for enrollment is October 15; and that the school year runs through the middle of June. That means any 8th grader whose birthday falls on October 16th or later will be 14 by the end of the school year. Assuming a relatively equal distribution of birthdays, that's 2/3 of the class.

I just wanted to point out that we aren't just talking about 11-year-olds here.

So we're talking 12, 13, and 14 year olds? Thanks for clarifying.
 

Marlys

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But condoms, unless you've got a latex allergy you didn't know about, don't have harmful side-effects.

And that's a damn important difference in "upping the stakes" here and following free condoms with free BC pills.

Susan G.
But the free condoms weren't enough--despite being available for several years, last year the middle schools had 17 pregnancies that they know about. They also say they're offering "a full range" of birth control options, which presumably includes less risky (albeit less effective) methods such as the sponge, spermicide, and female condoms.
 

TheGaffer

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so if you consent to your 11 year old using the school's health center (say, out of concern that she might fall at recess and split her head open) and during her visits, she's counseled and given birth control pills without your knowledge (since treatment is confidential), and your child develops heart disease, high blood pressure, blood clots or is afflicted by depression (all acknowledged and scientifically verified potential side effects), is the school or the state responsible for that?

Just curious where you are on handing out condoms.
 

whistlelock

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Being a liberal and all, I'm totally for sex ed for kids. But the pill at 11?

No way. They're too young for that. Not just an emotional maturity, but just a straight physical maturity. What's that going to do to those girls to have that many MORE hormones pumping through their veins?


It's just a massive lawsuit waiting to happen.