I think that it does matter what form of contraception is being given out. If it's a long-term prescription for a regular dose of hormones it's quite different than providing emergency contraceptives.

I would feel comforted knowing that emergency contraception is available to my children if they should need it in a safe, familiar environment like their school (they may be intimidated by clinics, or scared to discuss such issues with a stranger).

On the other hand, I wouldn't feel comfortable with the school providing ongoing contraception without at least notifying me. As Mr. Saletan suggested, it's important that kids trust their parents enough to be able to discuss birth control with them. In my mind, it would still be the teen's decision, but I hope that she would feel free to alert me to what's going on. That way I could advise her of our family's medical histories and so on.

If it is prescription medication of any kind it should not be dispensed by anyone but a medical doctor familiar with the family history. Even emergency contraception can cause complications.

And even emergency contraception can become an ongoing thing. I made a mistake and had sex last night and I am scared so I am going to go to the school clinic and get the morning after pill. Not a problem. I have sex at least 3 nights a week and I am going to go to the school clinic and get the morning after pill after every time I have sex. Tends to become a problem.

I can assure you that the morning after pill does not lend itself to regular use as contraception. When I took it at the advice of my boyfriend when I was a teen, I was up for two days vomiting and dry-heaving. Other friends of mine have encountered extended menstruation (5 weeks, constant) and other complications. It's an excellent resource, but I've never heard anyone who has taken it consider it appropriate for regular contraception.

On the other hand, I am speaking from Canada where it's available over the counter without a prescription, and where any one who purchases it is counseled on the risks and why it shouldn't be considered a viable form of regular birth control.

First I would like to say that I am not in favor of Abstince only. HOWEVER. Birth Control pills are DRUGS - and you need parental health information when perscribing. Becuase I didnt know my mother's history with Blood clots I ended up hospitalized for a blood clot at the age of 20 due to taking birht control pills mixed with a medical problem that my mother passed down to me.

THESE are drugs - not condoms. They have health implications.

The story is a classic case of the media adding 2 (maine school clinics offering the pill) plus 2 (once you sign the waiver, the services are confidential) and getting 5 (you sign the waiver, they can give hormones to your kid without you knowing it)

I guess you haven't done as much research on the subject as "the media" have. Not even as much as to read the three articles linked by Saletan.

Yes, when you sign the waiver, your kid can see a physician or nurse practitioner in the independently-run health clinic at King Middle School in Portland, and the physician or NP is legally able to prescribe birth control, after what they describe as "intensive counseling." And under Maine law, reproductive health issues between a minor and her medical provider are confidential -- even as against parents.

Lastly, as to those of you who say "you need to know the parents' medical history," the obvious response is, if you know you have a family history of something that contraindicates oral contraceptives, the time to tell your kids is at puberty. Or you're risking your kids health.

Unless, of course, you'd prefer to come at this with some kind of doctrinal rather than good-sense approach.

>>THESE are drugs - not condoms. They have health implications.

Thank you. I don't understand how people can be so dismissive of the obvious health implications of a medication that completely changes your bodies hormone levels as a way of tricking it into not ovulating. I'm pretty sure there have been past discussions even in this forum about how hormonal changes affect the behavior of middle schoolers. Now we want to medicate those hormones without even stopping to think about the consequences?

I am very sorry to hear about your experience on birth control pills. I am sometimes shocked at how casually even medical providers suggest using hormone birth control and approach finding the right combination. Maybe its routine medication from their perspective, but it has profound physical and emotional (usually tied to the physical) effects. While some people might not react very strongly, most women I know do. Isn't the start of puberty emotionally trying enough without also wondering if its you or the pill?

Since I have never taken it I do not know the complications but you actually made a point in favor of not giving it to middle schoolers.

You are the one promoting children as being unable to control their sexual appetites. I just countered by saying that if that was true, they could easily just masturbate without any problem.

"are the ones in maine run by doctors?"

Who knows? Registered Nurses can prescribe medications in most states. Look at the laws they have there.

Seperation of boys and girls is easy.

I went to a single sex school.

Its not that uncommon, you know.

"I would feel comforted knowing that emergency contraception is available to my children if they should need it in a safe, familiar environment like their school"

You do know that the "emergency" contraceptive is an extremely high dose (far greater than the pill) of hormones that may by harmful for a child in puberty, right?

San:

Seperation of boys and girls is easy.

I went to a single sex school.

Its not that uncommon, you know.

I once opined that single gender schooling might not be a bad idea. Now that I encounter a graduate of one, however, I'm changing my mind.

I don't know what the best answer is here. I think abstinence only is totally unrealistic, even for middle schoolers. In the article the school reported that only 2 percent of the students that had visited the health center were sexually active, or admitted to it. The fact that such a debate is stirred to protect the few sexually active 11 year olds out there doesn't really seem worth it.

On the other hand, what can we do to protect those kids who choose (although that in itself is a strange term for 11 year olds) to have sex.

I'd like to bring up the point that we treat our boys and girls SO much differently when it comes to sex. Supplying condoms is not an issue, but supplying birth control is. Hormonal problems and side effects aside, it seems like there is an underlying issue that our precious girls should not be having sex, and thus not protected. While on the other hand, boys will be boys so let's protect them.

The same goes for the HPV vaccine. If there were a vaccine to prevent men from some sexually transmitted cancer do you really think there would be such an outrage?

Again, I'm not sure what the answer is, but girls deserve equal protection whether we want them to be having sex or not!

I don't advocate giving 11, 12 and 13 year olds condoms nor do I advocate girls or boys having sex at that age. The real difference is not in whether it is a boy or a girl. The difference is birth control is a problem because of the hormonal problems and side effects, condoms don't come with those. Oral contraceptives do not prevent life threatening diseases contracted through sex, condoms can.

As for the HPV vaccine, it "may" prevent cervical cancer. There is no guarantee and there are side effects to that too.

If the pharmaceutical companies had their way, they would have a vaccine or pill for every little thing that could go wrong with a person and it wouldn't matter if it only "may" protect people from the problem, just take it so you can feel safe.

San:

Seperation of boys and girls is easy.

I went to a single sex school.

Its not that uncommon, you know.

But if you hadn't, you would have totally been having sex in school , right? Because thats when all these pregnancies are being conceived - during school hours obviously. I mean its not like the sexes mingle outside of the classroom anyways. And if they're having sex and getting pregnant its definetly not happening in private, but in the locker rooms and janitorial closets.

I totally see the logic in that.