BC...to Middle School students???
 

http://news.aol.com/story/ar/_a/midd...17225109990001

There is a middle school in Maine who is planning on offering birth control to thier students. Thoughts?

ya know, we're expected to be shocked by this... and I am... slightly... I mean... we all kind of knew this would come... but then you have backwards*ss systems like at the college i work at that does NOT provide any BC, no condoms, no education, nothing.

its the progression of things and might as well be prepared I guess... you always have the problem of people saying that it encourages sex... and maybe it does... but at least the education and necessary um... impliments are there.

well for one... since a lot of these kids are developing and start earlier...it would be a way to keep down diseases and babies...not too crazy about it but.....


lets hope they dont get this idea

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18723555/

wow.

i shouldn't really be shocked that kids are doing that younger and younger but i really am.

Middle school is like 6th-8th grade right? So that is ages 13-16?

That's really scary and really sad at the same time.

I'd say 11-13 is more accurate (since most states require students to be 5 upon entering kindergarten).

I'm not sure what to make of this... I understand the reasoning behind it, but aaack! It blows my mind that kids who are barely old enough to babysit consider themselves old enough to have sex.

SYdney, they are....they are developing much earlier (chemicals in the food) and being exposed to it much earlier..so we can only remain but so shocked...

My daughter is in 8th grade and is aware of at least one girl in her class who has been sexually active since early in 7th grade. She started middle school at age 11 and will be 14 when she's done. So, some are doing it. Surely not all, not even most, but if they prevent even one teen pregnancy this way, then I say go for it. I don't think it will get used much though. It did say that it requires parent permission and, I don't see why a kid would be getting BC at school if it was ok with their parents.. seems like they'd just get it from that parent instead (unless cost is an issue?)

I realize that kids this age are physically developed enough to have sex. It's the emotional part that gets me. I've had the opportunity to meet some extraordinarily mature middle schoolers... but none of them are, in my opinion, emotionally prepared for sex and its repercussions. That's what I'm shocked about.

I'm not really opposed to BC being available to these students, I guess I just wish the need wasn't there. No demand = no need for supply.

amazingly enough...these kids in some places can get BCs anonymously but have to have athier parent's permission to get an aspirin.

Seriously. My kids can't use a cough drop at school without a doctor's note. (Granted, it's elementary school, but still.)

But according to an interview I heard with one of the Portland school board members within the last hour, parental consent will not be required for distribution of birth control there.

I'm just waiting for the lawsuit.

I know I am *old* ...47. BUT...I remember distinctly when I was in 6th grade in 1971 (I was 11!), there was a group of my classmates (NOT ME...I would like to add) who were having sex!!! Probably about 4 or 5 of them. One of them was my best friend actually. It was like a "game" to them. EEEEK...I remember being shocked when it came out (on the playground after lunch) about it.

When my oldest daughter was in 7th grade (12 in 1991), one of her group of friends got pregnant by a 10th grader (16 yr).

A recent story in the Des Moines Register highlighted a 28 year old woman was arrested for encouraging her 15 year old daughter to beat up another girl. Do the math...mother born in 1979, daughter born 13 years later in 1992!!! (means mom was 12 when she got pregnant)

It happened then, it happens now.

These children need to have help to not be making more children. If it means the clinics are in middle schools, then that is where they need to be.

There was a girl in my brothers 7th grade class with a baby:o, so there are pros and cons.

In middle school my friends and I were barely talking about kissing (I guess we were slow) moretheless sex.:eek:

Sign of the times perhaps:confused:

You are sooooo right.....heck there are many adults that can not deal with the emotional repercussions.

Same in my school. I think we might be able to get condoms @ the nurses office *yes that is what our "health center" is called* but no BC. They tell you to go to Planned Parenthood.


To be able to use the health center there at all requires permission from the school, but anything that goes on/is given to the kids is not told to parents. So as long as they have permission to be treated at the health center they can get it.

So true!

I knew a girl that had a baby in 8th grade, then one in 9th grade and then another in 10th grade.

One of my friends has been sexually active since she was 12 and her sister had a baby at 14.

The brother of my cousin's friend (lol) got a girl pregnant when they were 11 and now they have a 2 year old.

I honestly think they should even start talking about sex to the elementary kids. When I was in 5th all we got was the "your body is going through changes" (ie. periods) but that was it.

When my cousin was in 5th grade, she had a girl in her class talk about her sexual experiences. Adn another girl claimed that her 8 year old brother (he was in the 2nd grade) was having sex!!!!

I don't think bc pills have any place in a middle school. Birth control pills only work if they're taken every day, at the same time every day. I don't think 12-14 year olds have the discipline to monitor their pill-popping and their bodies that closely. I just don't. They think they do, but they don't.

If some schools are this desperate, they need to up the sex ed and make condoms available. Besides, pregnancy is only one of the hazards with (pre)teen sex, and one could argue it is one of the lesser concerns.

Who knows!!! lol. Kids nowadays surprise me.

I found out like an hour ago that the 13 year old girl (the one that has the 2 year old) is pregnant....AGAIN. :eek:

:eek::eek::eek:

Are you from Arkansas?

J/K :)

While it seems amazing that middle schoolers would benefit from this--let me offer a few things

At my middle school, there is currently a 6th grade student who is home bound due to pregnancy.

My students (6th graders) openly talk about who they've had sex with, had sexual encounters with and everything of the like.

I would say it's needed.

Teaching abstinance just isn't effective because if they want to have sex they are going to have sex. We might as well just tell them how to do it safely.

AlwaysSAI, you beat me to it. I teach middle school as well and I think some parents are clueless to their children having sex. EVERY year, there is someone on my team who is pregnant, already has a child, or homebound due to a pregnancy. I have a student who is 13 and due in November. Last year, there was an 11-yr-old 6th grader who was 7 months pregnant!!! You are right, sex amongst middle schoolers is openly talked about. I know this sounds old fashioned, but we need to go back to basic morals and ethics and parents need some sense of accountability. The majority of my students are raising themselves (their parents work at least 2 jobs and there is no parental supervision in the evenings).

No, close though. I'm from Texas! haha.

Its the Mexican in us I guess...we like to start them young! lol :p

Thank you!

Part of me thinks that the Europeans have it right, when they start talking about this stuff much earlier...way less teen pregnancy over there.

And 11 year olds having sex? Much less children? What parent allows their 11 year old to keep a baby? ARE THEY INSANE? WTH is wrong with people?

I'm just thinking out loud here...

Let's look at the options:
(1) Abortion. Some might ask what parent allows their 11 year old to have an abortion? The 11 year old could be emotionally scarred for life. Or there could be complications, rendering her unable to conceive later in life.

(2) Adoption. Some might ask what parent allows their 11 year old to put a child up for adoption? The 11 year old could be emotionally scarred for life. Or there could be complications, rendering her unable to conceive later in life. And then there's always the question of wanting to be involved in the child's life later - do you allow the child to contact you? An 11 year old isn't capable of making that type of decision.

(3) Raising the child themselves. Some might argue that these parents are allowing their child to avoid the consequences of their actions by taking on the responsibility of raising the child themselves. Still others might argue that the parents didn't do their job appropriately the first time or else their 11 year old wouldn't already be making them grandparents.

There aren't any good options here. I'm not trying to say that 11 year olds should keep the children they have, I'm just saying that none of the choices sound very good.

I don't think bc pills are necessarily THE answer (as PeppyGPhiB said, in order for them to be effective they have to be taken regularly, and even then, they aren't 100%), but they are a better option than any of the choices above. And since the girls are the ones who will be affected most, it makes sense that they would be the ones to have the opportunity to be in control of their birth control options.

I guess I didn't realize 11 year old sex is as prevalent as it obviously is. What a shame.