3 years ago
(WUSA) -- You may think sex is the last thing on the minds of the middle school crowd, but school officials in Portland, Maine, found out otherwise when 17 girls turned up pregnant.
"One is too many," John Schlitt of the National Assembly of School-Based Health Care Says. "Now the centers can do something to prevent it from happening."
King Middle School is the first in Maine to start writing prescriptions for birth control pills and the patch at the student health center.
Veda Hicks of DC doesn't like the idea. "I think at that age kids shouldn't even be thinking about having sex and parents need to be talking about this with their children."
Schlitt, whose organization oversees 1,700 school based health centers nationwide, says the clinics fill a void for many kids who can't talk to their parents and many others in urban or rural areas who don't have access to health care.
"School-based health centers require parental permission. If parents don't want their kids to have access to the services they should simply not sign the center enrollment form."
There are 87 school-based health centers in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Like others across the country, some have been providing condoms since 2000. No word if any want to now start writing prescriptions for birth control pills and the patch.
"My gut reaction is it's not appropriate," says Elizabeth Keane who has one daughter already in middle school and another one headed there next year. "I would hope they come to me."
The school-based health centers are required to keep the students' health issues private and some parents worry they won't know if their children get the pill.
"That's a big concern," says Lauri Willner who has a daughter in middle school. "At that age, they really are just children."
Written by Audrey Barnes9NEWS NOW
