The Gorilla was simply shocked to hear this news! Believe it or not, a middle school in Maine has taken the initiative to “get involved” with kids at their school who may be having sex. The school located in Portland, Maine, is having a debate tomorrow night to decide whether or not it should offer birth control pills to it’s students. Richard Veilleiux is the executive director of the Maine Assembly On School-Based Health Care and has a 12 year old at the school himself. He says that it’s the “community’s job” to give kids services they need to remain healthy and strong. He believes that it is essentially the parent’s job to inform and talk with their children about having sex and the risks therein, but that unfortunately, many parents do not talk with their kids about it, leaving them at risk for having unsafe sex. He believes that this is where the community must step in. Charmaine Yoest, of the Family Research Council, firmly disagrees. She says that this is a perfect example of the “soft bigotry of low expectations.” She says that by offering birth control we are not addressing other issues such as the health risks, not just pregnancy, that accompany having sex at any age. She says that an estimate 9 million kids between the ages of 15-24 are diagnosed each year with sexually transmitted diseases and that, statistically, when kids start having sex that young, they end up with multiple partners by the time they are in high school. Giving birth control to kids does not address these issues. She believe that this approach is simply “tragic.” The students at the school can sign up for school-based health care, and it can be given without the parents consent! The Gorilla asks: What is happening to our society, when the schools are giving out contraception to 11 year olds?
Oct 17
October 17th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Back again! This is simply horrendous. It encourages “safe” sex when young kids are emotionally unable to handle it. Talk about a nanny state!
October 17th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
I mean seriously - where does it go from here?
October 20th, 2007 at 8:54 am
What’s wrong with this picture:
1. Maine school to give birth control pills to 11 year olds, without notifiying their parents.
2. California City giving needles and a place for addicts to shoot up.
3. Disney takes the word God out of ad for the movie “The Ten Commandments”.
There seems to be obvious moral decay in this Country and the Politicians do niothing. The surely can’t be that Blind or Vote hungry., can they?
October 20th, 2007 at 9:17 am
In no way do I think 6th graders should be having sex, but I can’t believe how many parents seem to think all they have to do is express disapproval and kids will say “Oh, OK…I won’t do that”….Yeah, right…..How did that work out for your parents when they told you not to drink and smoke? So, the way I see it parents have two choices. They can have kids on the pill or they can have pregnant 12 year olds. Kids not having sex just doesn’t seem to be an option, I really wish it was because I agree they are too young to deal with sex and they are robbing themselves of a childhood, but they’re going to do it whether you like it or not. The reality is, they really don’t care what you think.
October 22nd, 2007 at 7:41 pm
I agree with the Gorilla. Contraceptives should not be handed out to 11 year olds. The parents need to be parents!! Beside, I thought the problem was STDs. Condoms and pills will not prevent them, duh!!
October 22nd, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Messa,
You are right: just expressing dissapproval is not enough. Parents need to teach their children values starting at a young age. By the time our children are teens, if they have not internalized some of the values we have taught them, we are in real trouble.
The main problem today is that we do not know where to go for our values. We have discarded much of the foundational values of previous generations.
There are reasons that kids reach out for sex. If I think of all the kids I know that reached out for sex in high school, it was the kids who were missing something at home. They went searching for love and acceptance elsewhere. I think most kids do care what we parents think. They will never let us know it, but some of them even appreciate us setting boundaries for them. I know I appreciated the boundaries that adults set on me. I would have gotten in alot more trouble had they given me condoms instead. They had the expectation that we would NOT be loose with our morals and this provided some measure of boundary for us (even though we tested the boundary to see how close we could get).
October 22nd, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Messa is missing the point. The permissive attitude by parents at that age is a sign of encouragement. All children need boundaries and at an early age. If an 11 year old hears contraceptives are available at the school the message is “We don’t care what your parents think or say, it’s OK to have sex. We’re here to protect you” Yeah right- We’re from the government and we’re here to help
October 27th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Vinnie and Billy are on the right track. Kids need parental involvement and supervision. But the Parents are most of the problem. What is the current divorce rate? 50% or more? What about the rate of illegitimate births? The adults are not assuming their responsibilities as Adults.
I could go on and on, since I have thought and written much on this subject, but I will not bore you all with it here.