Birth Control For Maine Middle Schoolers

(CBS/AP)  School officials on Thursday defended a decision to allow children as young as 11 to obtain birth-control pills at a middle-school health center, saying the new policy is aimed at a tiny number of sexually active students.

King Middle School will become the first middle school in Maine, and apparently one of only a few in the nation, to make a full range of contraception available, including birth-control pills and patches.

Students would need parental permission to use the city-run health center in the school, but they wouldn't have to tell their parents they were seeking birth control.

"As a parent, I would hope that my child would come to me first," school committee member Sarah Thompson told CBS News. "But if she doesn't feel comfortable, then I know that there's somebody there, and a support system in place for them to be able to talk to somebody."

"People I associate with are looking at me like, are you guys crazy? Is this really going to happen in Portland?" said school committee Chairman John Coyne, who opposed the new policy in the 7-2 vote by the Portland School Committee on Wednesday night.

According to a national survey, 18 to 20 percent of adolescents have had intercourse by age 14, reports CBS News national correspondent Byron Pitts.

There are no national figures on how many middle schools provide such services. Most middle schoolers range in age from 11 to 13.

"It's very rare that middle schools do this," said Divya Mohan, a spokeswoman for the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care.

This week, the health center asked the committee to make birth-control pills available to high school-aged students who were still in middle school and unable to access the contraception available at the high school, said Portland School Committee member Robert O'Brien.

School officials said five of the school's 510 students would have qualified for the birth control under the program last year.

O'Brien, whose district includes King Middle School, said the notion that young children can now easily get birth-control pills is flat wrong.

"They don't just have a giant punch bowl full of pills," he said,

The birth control will be given out only after extensive counseling, and no prepubescent children will get it, O'Brien said.

The lead school nurse said the health center's staff would also encourage kids to talk with their parents, reports CBS affiliate WGME-TV.

But Coyne said a physically mature, savvy 11-year-old could get the birth control once the permission slip to use the center is signed.

"I think she could navigate the system," he said.

Portland's three middle schools had seven pregnancies in the last five years, said Douglas Gardner, director of Portland's Health and Human Services Department. He said early reports of 17 pregnancies during the last four years were erroneous.

The King Middle School is among Portland's most diverse schools, with 31 languages spoken there and 28 percent of its students foreign-born. The school, located on the same peninsula as downtown Portland, draws from the islands in Casco Bay, wealthier neighborhoods overlooking the bay, and low-income triple deckers.

Fifty-four percent of the students are part of the federal free lunch program, which is an indicator of poverty.

Principal Michael McCarthy said the school had just one pregnancy last year, but students were reporting they were sexually active. The center has dispensed condoms since 2000, but because it could not prescribe birth-control pills, nurses referred the students to Planned Parenthood or Maine Medical Center.

"When they followed up, they found that in many cases, the kids weren't doing that," McCarthy said.

The policy raises new legal concerns.

Sex with a nonspousal minor under 14 is considered gross sexual assault in Maine, and officials said it was unclear whether nurses at the health center would be required to report such activities.

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[erasmus6]

GrammaWhamma and MichelleM99

Thanks for answering my question!

[michellem99-2009]

erasmus6 Dear .I read term Nanny Gov''t in the UK and Maine..It is some times called the nanny state. It is on the idea of a nanny telling us what we can/can''t do and like it or not..do as yer told..It means to me that the gov''t wants to rule every thing we say and do..And the Gov''t is trying to,do just that..It is much different to than then I was much younger.

[grammawhamma]

erasmus6: Hi. I think what it means is that the government trys to baby sit us or to make decisions for us. For example: like banning the use of transfats at restaurants, or forcing McDonalds to get rid of super sized meals.

[michellem99-2009]

I am telling the parents. I had a class mate and every time she had her period it was hell for her and she had no understanding of why she had it..She was like a small child in growing body. I am not joking..Children are raped more than is talked about..There were times I dreaded that period..Men know that girls have it and they go hunting for them.
Males are dumb as they only think of their control over a young girl.. Not all males..We live in an age where sexx is every where. Who will look out for our children. There are children that are on the list and that has hurt them when they are grown.They can''t live where they want..They do the shiit work cos they f---ed as children by having sexx.

[erasmus6]

Someone tell me what a NANNY GOVERNMENT is!!! I have heard this before but have no idea what it is.

We don''t use a lot of nick names for things here, but I notice in the U.S. you do quite often.

[grammawhamma]

Michelle: Please tell me you are not serious about giving young girls pills to stop their menses...or boys pills to prevent erections! You complain about living in a nanny government but would condone something like that!!?? That''s almost as bad as the government ordering lobotomies on everyone so we all stagger around drooling but stay manageable.

Kids need education about s.ex and morals...if they aren''t getting it at home then they need to be taught this at school. Medication is not the answer unless the girl is already sexually active and then only with parent''s permission. Give them condoms instead.

[michellem99-2009]

I was a high school pupil in the 70s and there was married pupuls at school and girls showing that they were bearing babies. I was shcocked as Mum was forced out..This is in Maine. I am aware young girls forgive the term go in heat about the time of the period and it is strong..I hated it. I never gave in it. The period is the thems that a girl can bear babies. Yes by our moderen thinking it is too young..I asked my friend why so young. I think they should the their peroids as adult ladies..There is a pill to stop a girl''s cycle why not look in to that. They need to come up the same to stop a boy''s from making the means of his seed,,male birth control..The male pride...a means so he can''t father child until he is an adult..We can go to the moon but can''t keep children from having children until they are adults and can raise them.

[grammawhamma]

dmhphils: I mostly agree with what you are saying...however, abstinence is a nice goal but it is unrealistic. It will work only for a very slim minority. Give the kids condoms at school without parents permission...and give them birth control pills but only with a parent''s consent. Like I said in a previous post....many Catholic priests don''t even practice the abstinence they preach.

[michellem99-2009]

we are not church goers as they think one book has all the answers well it does not. It is so old and out dated. America is not and never has been a Christian nation. That don''t sit well with yer. Too bad..WE CAN WORSHIP AS WE SEE FIT BUT THERE IS SEP OF STATE AND CHURCH. Thank God for that.

[michellem99-2009]

I AM SORRY BUT DON''T PREACH.