Maine Advocate Defends School Pill Policy

(CBS/AP)  News reports of contraceptives provided to girls as young as 11 at King Middle School led to an uproar. Republicans launched an effort to recall members of the school board. And District Attorney Stephanie Anderson warned health professionals that they were illegally failing to report underage sex.

At the center of the debate is the coordinator of Portland school nurses, who happens to be the wife of Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe.

Amanda Rowe, an outspoken supporter for children's health and sex education, said she isn't paying attention to what the national news media or talk show hosts have to say about the Portland School Committee's decision.

The decision to make available birth control prescriptions to children whose parents allow them to visit the school clinic was the right one, she said.

"I am committed to this, and I will see it through," Rowe told the Portland Press Herald.

The Christian Civic League of Maine has questioned the silence of Attorney General Steven Rowe on the contraceptive issue. Fox TV commentator Bill O'Reilly said Maine's attorney general faces "a conflict of interest."

Rowe, 53, said she was prepared for controversy when an advisory board that reviews sex education programming in the Portland schools decided that birth control prescriptions should be made available at the middle school health clinic.

But she did not expect a national debate.

Nonetheless, she said the national controversy is irrelevant. "We are trying to do things for our own little community," she said.

Rowe attended the University of Maryland's Walter Reed Institute of Nursing on an Army scholarship and spent the years after graduation working as a pediatric nurse in the Army. She came to embrace the military's medicine. "It was a universal system," she said.

After returning to Maine, Rowe taught pediatric nursing at Westbrook College and earned a master's in education from the University of Southern Maine. She and her husband have four children. Their youngest is a college senior.

Rowe is a breast cancer survivor, and she said that helped to shape her beliefs. "We are on this Earth for a very short time and have only one chance to act on our convictions," said Rowe, whose health is fine today.

People who know her say she doesn't back down from her convictions.

Longtime friend Rosemarie DeAngelis, a South Portland city councilor, said Rowe earned her lifelong allegiance in 2002 when Rowe stood up for her in a dispute with the Maine Education Association, the state's largest teachers union.

Rowe and others crashed a closed-door suspension meeting between DeAngelis, a treasurer for the South Portland Teacher's Association, and state union officials in a dispute over DeAngelis' accounting of her chapter's dues money.

Rowe and two others were arrested for criminal trespass. The charges were later thrown out.

"I don't know many people who would go in and get themselves arrested on your behalf, and that is what Amanda did for me," DeAngelis said.

[michellem99-2009]

Dear yes child do...But there are are adults that have sexx wiht minors..teachers..That is not right..That is a story of a bus driver here sexually abusing a 4 year old. FYI. I was sexually abused as a minor in foster homes..I stand no babie.Who is going to raise them unwanted babies just cause they think it is cool to have sexx.. Yes they can continue their school..will the girls'' parents raise their grandbabies..dear I am 53..Their caretakers wont talk about this..They SAY oh we don''t talk it..Bull shiit. They need proper info Mum/Dad..They need to know if a baby is born to minors the party is over .baby first.. no friends ..Baby,,,they are demanding..If a girl is placed on birth control there is no reason she will take it daily..Some use a baby to trap a male..talk about the child support issues..Sure they have more info than I..Some have baby for state ade..Cover all bases..I never had children..I am an aunt..
I was tauguht and it was drove home daily than I was a teen age in foster home..They made clear they were not happy raising other people''s children..
It was *Barbara yer got no business having children ye can''t take care of,can''t give them a home and give them the basics..No business*.. Barbara is my birth name..

[bja8839]

MichelleM99 wrote- Use that brain and wake up..I would rather children not be forced to have sexx as they are too young..that pill is not the answer would ye like yer girl to get AIDES..I don''''t know about ye but I don''''t want it..I was taught sexx is for adults not children..A baby to a child is a dolly only it is alive..An adult has no business having sexx with minors..none.. That is jail bate..

( um last time i checked kids are having S E X with other kids!!!!! they arent being forced they are choosing to do so because they think it is the cool thing to do so they can be popular or so kids will like them it has nothing to do with adults have s e x with kids its kids having s e x all together@!!!!!! and if they are going to do it then i think they should be on the pill and guys should have condoms i mean isnt SAFE S-E-X BETTER THEN UNSAFE S-E-X WHAT ONE WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE? is the real ? that people should be thinking about not that oh its bad they shouldnt take it that young yeah well you know what they do and they should if they want to have s-e-x

[bja8839]

erasmus6
you are very right i say if you think your kid might be having s e x then you should take them to get checked out you know and if the doc says yeah it looks like she has then put them on the pill and guys no matter what EVER boy needs to have that talk about *** and i think every boy should be givin condoms at that age where they even start to LIKE girls that way they are ready if anything does happy its not only the girls who are having *** it does take two! and everyone just needs to stop and think about there kids safey i mean do you really want to be a grandparent at the age of like 32 lol

[bja8839]

MichelleM99 that was then this is now if you are about to have a baby and you are in school they have to let you finish and if that school wont they have a school just for girls that are about to have a kid so i mean there isnt anything stoping them from finishing school that should be the #1 thing they do before the kid is born that way when they get a chance they can get a job to take care of there little one! but kids now adays are VERY good at hinding what they do who they are with its our job as the parents to keep a close eye on them and check in on them when they dont think you will so you can see if they are telling you the truth.

[michellem99-2009]

It is the churchy that won''t bliveve that they do have sexx as they think the bible has all the answers as it does not..Years ago a child bearing a child was forced out of school..And if they got married with signed papers that child was not a bas***** child..I was in sp.ed all thur school..I saw a girl that was showing and it was odd she was allow to graduate..I have never heard of grammar schools girls having babies..I am 53.

[erasmus6]

"ok im 21 and my little sister just left middle school and you have NO CLUE HOW MANY OF THEM ARE HAVING ***" posted by bja8839

Actually there are alot of people that have NO CLUE.
SOME of us live in reality but others live in DENIAL.

[erasmus6]

"So SOME kids do talk to their parents--it is all in how they are raised and the relationship" posted by toldyouso21

Yes, SOME do. And SOME DON"T even though they have good relationships with their parents.

[michellem99-2009]

Use that brain and wake up..I would rather children not be forced to have sexx as they are too young..that pill is not the answer would ye like yer girl to get AIDES..I don''t know about ye but I don''t want it..I was taught sexx is for adults not children..A baby to a child is a dolly only it is alive..An adult has no business having sexx with minors..none.. That is jail bate..My mother was a child 16 is a child..18 is when they can sign a lease for an apt. They have no business laying with a minor ..A minor is from birth to 18..Paws off..I would not be surprised today..Check out the hip hop visauls..The skin..They have a birth control that last 5 years..Do they not..What about the boys a condom can break and it only takes one time and the girl has the baby..The boy walks..They need to address the male as he is the one that goes in to heat daily..I was a girl once..It was strong around preiod time..I hated them..

[bja8839]

ok im 21 and my little sister just left middle school and you have NO CLUE HOW MANY OF THEM ARE HAVING *** the pill would be a GREAT idea just have the parents sign a paper saying its ok for there child to be on it i mean what would you rather have a kid having *** in middle school and ending up having a baby or a kid in middle school being on the pill come on people use that brain god gave you and make the right choose

[michellem99-2009]

I WAS RAISED SEXX IS DIRTY...A foster mother told me I could come to her and talk about what ever..surprise..She turnt on me..I never went to her..I knew the gendars are different when I was sexually abused in foster homes..I did not want sexx forced on mt as they used my blindiness against me.. I did not learn about sexx ed..Foster ma was mormon..no sah yer .see my other posts here..The only thing I was taught by her was yer going to be fixed..She meant it..The state would not pandered to her wishes..What is wrong with tham churchy people..They are more blind than I, I don''t believe in sleeping with every Tom,*** and Harry..I don''t..Toldyouso21 yes sexx hurt as does the paps..I went thru thru the change at 37..Some blame the girl...sorry it is the boy that forces..Males no means no not yes..They have a problem with the word no..Oh yes..I was hunted by a man who was over sexxed when I lived in Portland Maine..I told him to get lost..He knew where I lived at the time as a blind woman was seeing him..I got 2 men fired as they would not keep their paws off me..there was sexual abuse the foster homes and at the blind centre,,I looked like a child due to C/P and they wanted to violate my person..It was a battle just keep them at bay..No body has the right to force sexx on another..