The Massachusetts school made famous for its “Pregnancy Pact” scandal (17 pregnancies last year) has taken the bold and progressive move of authorizing distribution of contraceptives to students through the school clinic. Bravo!
Bullshit.
The school is getting praise for being receptive to student needs, and for being an icon of rationality, but it’s not being progressive. It’s being tyrannical, old fashioned, and ineffective. Why? Students must have parental consent to receive the contraceptives. Think about it. The students that are having sex and having unwilling pregnancies are not the kids who will be asking their parents to contact the school to allow them to receive contraceptives, let alone the kids who would even admit to their parents that they’re actually having sex (or thinking about potentially having sex, and would like to be prepared, just in case).
What’s really going on is a scare tactic. This is an underhanded, covert support of the continuously failed faith-based abstinence program. It forces a child to get parental consent not to have an unwanted pregnancy. It creates a no-win choice for kids who don’t feel comfortable talking to their parents about their private lives: either have unprotected sex or abstain from sex. That’s not a good or realistic set of choices.
And what about children who are having sex, but whose parents refuse to give permission?
This is not progress.
Tags: abstinence, bullshit, children, consent, contraceptive, faith, Mass, Massachusetts, pregnancy, rational, school, school board, sex
I agree completely. It is getting close though… Now we just gotta get the nurses to sneak them to the kids
J/k… But it could be seen as a step in the right direction. Hopefully when this fails they will be more progressive.
I don’t think children should be given birth control. They shouldn’t be having sex until they are married. Sex is a sin unless you are married. No one should support sinful behavior.
I’m looking for that Poe’s Law wink, dobsonite.
dobsonite, if you don’t think kids should be given birth control, then don’t give any to your children. That doesn’t mean that they won’t have sex, and they are that much more likely to have an unwanted, out of wedlock pregnancy. If we lived in a perfect world, things like that would never happen. But we don’t. So no one should be able to dictate the sex lives of others. You should be thankful that there are people out there who are trying to teach kids how to protect themselves and act as responsibly as is possible considering their circumstances. Although this school does not appear to consist of any of those people.
I’m not crazy about the idea of my kids having sex in high school (or ever – ew), but if they must, then I would prefer that they do it as safely as possible. Like driving. You don’t just throw kids into a car and tell them to start driving when they become “of age”. You teach them how to do it properly, you inform them of the dangers of it, and you make sure that they are aware of the safety of the other drivers on the road. Why should sex be any different? And what idiot thought that this whole system was a good idea? Has every person in this country forgotten what it’s like to be a teenager?
Having sex without being married is a sin? HA! I think it is more sinful to drive by someone in dire need of help instead of offering assistance. Apparently one of us has dubious morality.
This is another example of how society continues to stigmatize sex and the human body.
This was a response to all of those teenagers that wanted to get pregnant at the same time. Contraception works when you actually use it, right?
If the school was receptive to the kids needs, they would teach about healthy sexual activity. The only reason I think people are hung up on sex being bad is due to religions with archaic laws.
Fortunately, I know teenagers, and I know progressive liberal parents. There are those who will give consent to their kids, and tell their kids to get condoms and distribute them to those without parental consent.
It’s what I would do.
Unfortunately, the result of that is that the very opposite sort are the ones having all the kids. It’s a weird natural selection effect that punishes only those who actually believe in natural selection.