I keep hearing a lot about schools wanting to prescribe middle school girls birth control pills. Then before that was the cervical cancer vaccination. I don't have preteens yet but I keep going back and forth with this issue. My kids are home schooled so this isn't something I will directly have to deal with, but I still worry about it and the way society is going. Part of me says this is ridiculous, kids shouldn't be having sex this early and how can a young girl remember to take a pill when half the time they can't remember to bring home their homework. Another part of me says well if they are going to have sex anyways they need to be protected. Then I think about the long term affects of birth control pills and I wonder how this will affect a whole generation of kids by the time they are adults and what sort of problems i.e. cancer, infertility, etc. they will have to deal with. It's so hard to know what to do.

What are your thoughts?

This was on the news here last night, too - middle schools making contraceptives available in the health center (and parents must give permission for them to access the health center).

Middle school seems SO young, but I also think that if we want less abortions, we need to also be working toward more contraceptive availability. While I don't want my daughters going to someone else for that information or access, I think it IS important to make it available IF that situation should arise (though, God help us all if it's in middle school, yk?)

Conflicted here, too. Though, I did appreciate planned parenthood's free contraception when I was in highschool and didn't DARE speak to my single father Dad about it.

I can just "see" a boy saying to a girl, "if sex was so wrong, why are they giving you birth control pills?" Or a girl wanting to abstain but thinking, "well, they gave me these pills.."

*sigh*

The peer influence is HUGE during middle school.

But I agree with Sandi's comment about for less abortions we need more birth control availability...

I see both sides, really.

My sister works in research at the local ped hospital and one study says that girls are having sex at 12 and will have 4 partners by 14.:drop:

my dh taught at a poor inner city school. he had a girl pg with her 3rd baby at 14. BC wouldnt have helped her though, her mama encouraged it-- meant a bigger check for them each month. The prob w a LOT of those girls was statutory rape. !2-15 yr olds "dating" 20-30 yr old men. Seemed so prevalent in this particular group of girls that dh said if they would just go after these men, some of the issue would be solved. This was a poor black community btw, most of which either lived in one of two housing projects in the area. (which caused all manner of issues as well, because they were two separate gangs). The mothers of these kids were also by and large very young-- between 13 and 18 when these kids were born, so in their early 30's. And either lived alone, w the boyfriend of the week, or often with their mothers (so there were 4 generations in the house, and all under 50-55)

I don't know what the answer is honestly. I do know that dh working at this school showed me how broken the system really is. It also showed me that there are many many people who have no intention of ever getting out of the system. Generation upon generation in it. Only a very very few of them ever make it out. One of dh's most promising and intelligent kids was killed the yr after dh had him for breaking into someone's house. He had 2 students that drowned (and killed) another boy in the school pool on the weekend. Another girl of his had heard that an old man in the neighborhood cashed his welfare checks and hid them in the house. They knocked on his door and shot him in the face. They were caught when they went back then next day to look a little more for the money that wasn't there. Remember these are kids 7-9th grade. Many many kids went to jail for slinging rock. I mean whats the answer? Really? What is it? Would readily avaliable bc make a difference? Maybe, but I doubt it. They don't use condoms because "so and so loves me" and if I love them too I wont ask him to use a condom. Thats how warped things are. And having a baby at 14 is so typical and usual, that it just isnt a big deal to them if they get pg.

That's so sad. I wish society wasn't so screwed up. I wish ppl who don't want to take responsibility for raising their children in loving nurturing homes would stop adding to the problem. I wish the government could some how make it financially possible for all moms to stay at home and home school. I'm really worried about the world that my children will soon be living in as adults. And I don't have the answers. I'm just not sure what we can do to change these things. It's so frustrating.

Here is my biggest concern about the birth control pill to middle school deal

the girls are still growing and the hormones may not be good to start that early
AND
lots of people have genetic clotting factors which hormones can trigger catastrophic clots (deadly ones) in those people.

Parents need to make these basic health decisions for their kids and even adult women need to know the risks of pulmonary embolism and hormones.

What makes me sick is that my daughters cannot get motrin at the nurse's office in high school but this MIDDLE school is wanting to give out HORMONAL MEDICATION that could affect the rest of their lives without letting mom and dad know?? How messed up is that??

The whole thing makes me sad, honestly. :(

Ok - the school nurse took NEOSPORIN away from my 18 year old senior yesterday (no, seriously) but they want to give out bc pills without parental knowledge.

Our society, our schools, are seriously screwed up.