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October 17, 2007
Maine in the News!
And not in a good way.
PORTLAND, Maine — A Maine middle school is poised to become the first in the state to offer birth control prescriptions to students through its student health center.The story goes on to explain that five students of 134 have admitted to being sexually active. That's four percent of the total student population. That number seems a bit small to justify such a wide-ranging policy change.The Portland School Committee will weigh the proposal Wednesday, which would enable students at King Middle School to obtain the pill.
Under the plan, King would become the first middle school in Maine to make a full range of contraception available to students in sixth through eighth grades, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.
“This is a proposal we have been working on for six months,” Douglas S. Gardner, the director of Portland's health and human services department, said in a statement. “It came about from kids self reporting that they were sexually active.
"Clearly they are too young to be engaged in sexual intercourse, but the reality is that they are sexually active," he said. "It is our responsibility to offer a full range of primary care services to students. Fortunately it’s a small number."
Gardner's statement in this story is typical of the reaction we've seen from those who support this move - the 'Well, 11-year-olds are having sex, so this is the responsible thing to do.' Think about that for a second, though - 11 year old children are having sex. This fact shouldn't send us scurrying for ways to make it easier - we should be wondering just how on earth our society reached this point. This fact should be an indictment - a reason to feel shame, not a chance for those who fancy themselves sophisticated to pat themselves on the back for their 'realism.'
This story has put my home state in the national news, which is rather embarrassing. Normally, I would expect some sort of reaction from our governor, John Baldacci, but he's been notably silent on this issue. Is Governor Baldacci so owned by Planned Parenthood and the MEA that he's unwilling to speak out against such an obvious wrong?
Break your silence, governor. Is this the sort of thing for which you want our state to be known?
Update - Welcome, MM readers and thanks to see-dubya for the link.
And...it's "Mainah."
Posted by slublog at October 17, 2007 10:20 PM
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Comments
MIDDLE SCHOOL?!?!?! AUUUGUUGGHGHH!
Posted by: Steve B at October 18, 2007 03:23 AM
"...kids self reporting..."
I call bullshit. What you've got is 5 liars. Pupster boy 1 is 11, he still thinks girls have cooties. I'm not discouraging the belief.
Posted by: Pupster at October 18, 2007 10:57 AM
If 5 kids self-reported as having seen angels, the admin. wouldn't be passing out bibles.
Posted by: lauraw at October 18, 2007 02:43 PM
Slubbo gets a Malkin-lanche from See-Dub!
Posted by: sinistar at October 19, 2007 05:18 PM
next they'll be giving Gardasil at birth or as a booster shot in elementary school.
I'd hate to admit it, if they allow children to get the pill, they are giving an excuse for them to have sex, without thought to consequence. Which is of course sending the wrong message, I'd rather them give condoms away to those few that are actually having sex then give the pill.
I'd rather those that are having sex use condoms then the pill.
Posted by: coldmexican at October 20, 2007 11:35 PM