Students as young as 11 in Maine will have access to contraception, after a number of pregnancies in the middle schools there.

Condoms have been available since 2000, but now under a new plan, the contraceptive pill will be available to students.

The treatment is confidential, and so the girls can decide whether or not to inform their parents.

Maine middle school to offer birth control

Any opinions on this?

Good idea! Maine catches up with Britain, shock! Of course, we grant them abortions on the quiet too, so Maine has a little way to go,I assume.

Fred, I was a precocious child, but I think I was still playing hopscotch at 11.
What were you doing?

Times have changed, I guess.

While the girls don't have to tell the parents exactly what treatment they receive, parental permission is required to access the school's health center.

quote:

Originally posted by dance girl:
Fred, I was a precocious child, but I think I was still playing hopscotch at 11.
What were you doing?

Fantasising about some pretty ewe in the field , I expect (didn't want to be different from the other country boys, you see) (I hadn't got a sister and didn't live in Norfolk anyway, so the options were limited )

quote:

Fantasising about some pretty ewe in the field , I expect (didn't want to be different from the other country boys, you see)

Ah I see; it all becomes clear now.
So when they wrote on your school report, "Fred is a nice boy, but needs to try harder," did you also notice the word 'depraved'?

quote:

Originally posted by dance girl:

quote:

Fantasising about some pretty ewe in the field , I expect (didn't want to be different from the other country boys, you see)

Ah I see; it all becomes clear now.
So when they wrote on your school report, "Fred is a nice boy, but needs to try harder," did you also notice the word 'depraved'?

In the euphemistic, coded, and careful language of Public School reports " is a nice boy, but needs to try harder" means "depraved" (but obviously a boy who is fitting in )

I think 11 is way too young to get the contraceptive pills, but since the teachers are probably the ones having sex with the girls, they are covering their own a**es.

When I did volunteer work at a middle school, incoming 7th graders included 3 pregnant girls. When I taught at another middle school, the incoming 7th graders included 4 pregnant girls. Both the schools were grades 7 & 8, and both had approximately 350 students.

I think middle school is a bit early, but if there is an obvious need (pre-teen pregnancy), then this is an obvious answer. If a pre-teen made her way to a Planned Parenthood clinic, her interaction with the doctor there is still confidential as far as I am aware. I don’t think it should be any different with a school health facility. If the child is in danger (i.e., if there are signs of abuse, or of an inappropriate sexual relationship -though any sexual relationship that early is inappropriate), authorities and guardians should be notified. But if parents aren’t willing to acknowledge the activities in which their children participate, sometimes someone else has to step in and make sure the children have all the right information.
If parents don’t want their children exposed to this sort of thing, there are plenty of private and parochial schools which will teach creationism and abstention until the ewes come home.