Parental Rights? Portland Maine Middle School Votes to give Birth Control to 11 to 15 Years Old

Parents … while you were sleeping you allowed these school board officials to to be voted in to usurp your authority.

Parental right and health issues are at center stage in Portland, ME as an out of control school board votes to allow giving the pill or patches to Middle School age girls. How young is too young and when is it ever healthy for an 11 year old to be taking a birth control pill?

Why stop at the middle school, next thing they will be proving the pill in Elementary School. Who is to stop it when you have school board officials with an agenda?

The students will need a parent’s written permission to access any services provided, but they would not have to disclose which service they receive, a point of contention for some.

The public school insanity continues. It wasn’t enough for public schools, in this case King Middle School in Portland, Maine to provide condoms to 11 and 15 year olds, now they have gone even farther. By a 7 to 2 vote King Middle School will be the first middle school in Maine to offer a full range of contraception in grades 6 to 8, when students are 11 to 15 years old. So much for providing birth control to your child being a parental right. The King Middle School motto is Knowledge, Motivation, Spirit + Teaching, Learning, Caring equals Success … I guess they need to add “the pill” to that as well.

While students need written parental permission to be treated at Portland’s school-based health centers, state law allows them to receive confidential care for reproductive health, mental health and substance abuse issues.

Committee member Sarah Thompson, whose daughter is an eighth-grader at King, supported the change even though it made her “uncomfortable.”

“I know I’ve done my job as a parent,” Thompson said. “(But there) may be a time when she doesn’t feel comfortable coming to me (and) not all these kids have a strong parental advocate at home.”

Maine Middle School to Offer the Pill

Chairman John Coyne voted against it, saying he felt providing the birth control was a parental responsibility. The other no vote came from Ben Meiklejohn, who said the consent form does not clearly define the services being offered.

Opponents cited religious and health objections.