Oct 18, 2007 7:55 am US/Eastern
Middle School To Give Out Birth Control Pills
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
Students at a middle school in Portland, Maine 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.
Some parents in Massachusetts worry that distributing birth control at school would encourage sex, not educate kids about it.
"I think that's promoting more promiscuity, so I don't think it should be available to them," one parent said.
"I think it's absolutely too young," said another mother. "But I think it's out of everybody's hands. I think that things are going on and they have to be taken care of."
A Massachusetts Education Department survey found nearly one in three students 15 years old and younger are sexually active. The Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy preaches abstinence but believes, even for middle schoolers, it can fall on deaf ears.
"Certainly in the best scenario the parents would be involved in this decision making," said Lydia Watts of the Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy.
"What we're concerned about are those young people who are most at risk of teen pregnancy and those are young people who don't have that kind of relationship with their parents."
Prescribing birth control has not been an issue for middle schools in Massachusetts. But the State Department of Education has recommended that school committees consider providing contraception in high schools, though it is not mandated.
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.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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