Maybe I shouldn't post something about this because I was on the run when I heard it on the news.

What I heard is that birth control pills were going to be at middle schools somewhere because the girls can't talk to their parents about such things.

HELLO! anyone else hear anything about this?

Yeah! It's here in Maine!!! Here's a link!

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=141436&ac=PHnws

I would really prefer that my child discuss this with me rather than a school counselor.

Wrong or right, I don't know, but, I still think it is a moral issue that ought to be dealt with by parents. All decisions and subsequent results of such an act ought to fully be explained to the child by the people who brought him/her into this world.

(Thank god I have a boy)

Seems awful young to me...middle school????

Saw it on my MSN home page. Everyone will jump down my throat, but I am all for it. No matter how much communication you have with your parents, and how they stress absinence, if the kids lose control once, a baby could be created which will have a hard life with such unprepared kids as parents. It isn't fair to the baby.

Yes, this passed. It is in Maine and covers 6th through 8th graders. This boggles my mind that the school would do this. I would yank my kid out of that school system immediately. Or at a minimum revoke the medical authorization for the school.

6th grade is what 11? Can't the school tell these kids that they are not ready for sex?

I am with you DQ, Thank God I have 3 boys

Middle school is not too young for contraception. I remember my Health (i.e. Sex Ed) classes started in 5th or 6th grade, and I had friends that became sexually active in 7th & 8th grade.

I also remember in my freshman year at high school one of my classmates was invited to give a presentation on 'safe sex.' (It wasn't an assignment for class, she just knew her stuff!)

The students need to have permission from their parents to use the school clinic, then everything is confidential. Sadly, it seems that the students at the school inquestion tend to use the school clinic as their primary health provider.

You would let your 11 year old have sex?

How about adoption? What about the STDs that the kids may get?

My son is eleven, and I tell you, I would not be happy if it were his middle school.

How many kids do you think ask for their parent permission to have sex?

The part that really makes me uncomfortable is that they will not inform the parents if they provide birth control to the girls on the basis of privacy concerns. Excuse me, you are providing medical care to my daughter, but you won't tell me what it is? That's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.

This is the disconnect when it comes to "reproductive rights." It extends to abortions as well. Somehow, girls who cannot sign an enforceable contract can provide informed consent to a dangerous surgical procedure.

We would never let a physician or nurse/practitioner treat our 13 year old sons without our knowledge or consent. Why should they school be allowed to treat girls in this way?

Makes me glad that I, too, have a son and not a daughter.

LOL, you can tell a kid all day long 24/7 they are not ready but that doesn't matter to them at all. I know it didn't to me or a lot of my friends when I was younger.
Evidently, there was a rise in teenage pregnancy to provoke such actions therefore, I think they are taking precautionary measures. It may not be right but the school is trying. Believe it or not there are many parents out there so oblivious to the fact their child is sexually active.

I raised two girls, and would have been seeing red if their middle school passed out Birth Control. There are too many variables; inconsistency of monitoring by a doctor, possible side effects that affect the decision to even be on Birth Control, (like family history of blood clots, etc). Not to mention the "green light" these girls will see by being able to get the contraceptive so readily. I guess I am old fashioned. I feel the decision to put a child on birth control is between the child, THEIR parent, and their doctor, not the school nurse. JMHO

What do we expect, when every TV show in prime time flaunts sexuality?

Come on, seriously, do real female cops and forensic experts always show their cleavage on the job? What about the Ghost Whisperer?

I think much of this falls squarely with parents who are ignorant. Unfortunately, kids are starting younger and younger. Some even believe that oral does not count as sex! Now, I will certainly not "allow" my 11 year old to have sex, but then, I will have at least talked with my kids about it by then! My wife sees a lot of pregnant teens in her line of work and our eyes are wide open!

As far as the STDs, they already provide condoms.

Condoms do not stop all STDs.

I thought that double standard was unfair when I was a kid, but Mom and Dad explained it to me. My brother could stay out all night when he was a teenager; I had a curfew. He could hang out with whomever he chose; I had to bring them home and introduce them to the parents. Why? "Because girls get pregnant and boys don't."

I feel birth control pills/prevention is preferable to abortion. Two kids with no control are not just wrecking their futures, there's a baby who pays the highest price.

I have raised two girls as well. One is married and one is a junior in college. I agee with you. You expect an 11 to 13 yr old to remember to take a pill every day?

Once again adoption. There are many good loving couples who can't have children who would give a baby a good home.

I realize that, but neither does talking abstinence when the child doesn't listen. Better to have a back-up plan. Imagine the excitement of getting your drivers license just in time to start driving your child to kindergarten!

It boggles my mind. Where are the parents? Where are the values you want your kids to have when they grow up?
Don't get on me - I refuse to believe that kids are ready for sex even in high school. They don't need it at all. They have their whole life to have relationship(s) and yes some people never mature but it takes some maturity to even be in a relationship let alone put out for SEX- because that's all it is getting laid because some kids think the boy loves them or they don't want to lose the boy - get real!
These are kids we are talking about-let them have fun, let them have their innocence until they have to go out in the big world.
There are no excuses -
Yea I have a daughter- 17- Im sure you all know. We talked about birth control and when she graduates high school she will be on the pill. Her choice. I wouldn't send her away to college without birth control because she is on her own and I still preach the disease stuff to her and about having sex with any Tom, Dick and Harry -

Oh yea come back at me about they can be doing it anywhere- in a car, in a classroom, down the basement, standing in a corner etc but I trust that I've instilled some values in her head and until she graduates high school she knows where I stand.
Underage alcohol angers me too- I've had to deal with that c r a p and until she is of legal age on that she already knows I won't tolerate it and I'll turn any parent in if I find out they served my daughter alcohol.

I think there's an unreasonable expectation that if we just...
Teach our kids more...
Raise them right...
Tell them to abstain because it's the right thing to do...

that they'll just think "oh, you're right, I'll be good and not have sex." Encouraging kids to do the right thing (or the smart thing) should certainly always be done, but even adults do things they know they shouldn't. If there's a high rate of sexual activity among kids in the school, then the offering of birth control should be an option. And even if you are successful in directing your own kids, doesn't mean that the other kids in the school with less diligent parents shouldn't be protected.

I have a step daughter that just turned 13. She lives with her mother in another state, but when she was here this summer, I discovered how boy crazy she is. Last year she was this innocent child, but this year . . . whoa, nelly! I am very concerned about her. I don't know how much her mother has discussed with her, but I had the opportunity more than once to talk to her about what she is or isn't doing and the consequences of her actions. We get along very well, and I hope she was listening, but kids are kids and they will do what they want in the end. And her mother, according to my stepdaughter, trusts 13 year old boys in her school because they are "goody goody". No such a thang!

I don't agree that schools should be issuing birth control without the parents' knowledge. I think the parents have every right to know what their children are up to. I hope that as my 4 year old son grows, we will have that sort of relationship to where he can come to me without hesitation about this sort of thing.

It is scary being a parent sometimes!