Roundup: Making Birth Control Available at Bruce Randolph Public School
A Denver school makes borth control available to its students, and parents as far away as Alabama are upset. Plus, more from the "anti-epidural" legislator
In a move that gives flashbacks to the Massachusetts school district that proposed making condoms available to elementary school children, Denver has announced that it will make birth control available to one public school in the district. Although this school teaches 6th to 12th grade students, it comes as no surprise that the reactions are just as fierce.
From ABC News:
Community reaction is predictably mixed as a new school year begins with free birth control products available to students at a Colorado public school.
6th through 12th graders at Denver’s Bruce Randolph School will be able to get condoms, birth control pills and emergency contraceptives for free, provided their parents opted into services at a school-based clinic run by a Denver hospital.
A group of parents pushed for the birth control program. 13 Bruce Randolph students gave birth to babies over the past two years.
Jennifer Gonzalez was a part of that group and has a son at the school. She says opponents need to make sure they don’t have misconceptions about the program.
“It’s not like it’s a box of condoms that’s set out in the hallway for a free for all,” Gonzalez says. “These kids go in, they ask for it, and they are
counseled.”She says the program helps her feel better about what might happen if her son found himself in a tough spot.
“If the only thing keeping my son from protecting himself is the embarrassment of asking me, or the ability to get to the clinic where it’s
offered for free, then I’d much rather him be able to walk into the school-based clinic and ask for it.”
Parents need to opt in to let their children participate, but that doesn’t stop the anti-sexed, anti-contraception crowds from getting up at arms over the program, even when they live in different states . CBS News has critical reaction from, of all places, Alabama:
Bruce Randolph School in Denver, Colorado will make birth control, condoms and other contraceptive available to students grade six trough 12. They say last year 12 students gave birth at the school and so they are hoping that this measure lowers that number, but what works for Denver is not necessarily what’s right for Alabama.
“I think it ridicules that it’s even talked about. That’s crazy it’s not up to the government and the school system to decide that,” says Joy Prewitt.
“I think that is ridicules there is absolutely no reason for them to bring it to middle schools. They have no business being here doing that,” says Allison Allred.
Most parents say they support abstinence education not birth control.
“I am not ready to go trough that explanation with my daughter. At this young age when they are very impressionable I don’t think that’s a very good idea,” says Joneishia McCurdy.
However, Denver Post columnist Tina Griego gives a thoughtful examination of why this new policy isn’t just a winner, but something that should be expanded to many schools:
Here you will speak to people who say, yes, kids make up half of Sun Valley’s population, but they’re not really children. They’re parents, too. You will find teens who had babies because they were careless or because they wanted someone to love. You will find teens who never had a parent to guide them, to teach them their value as individuals. Many of these young people are now trying, often valiantly, to teach their children what they themselves never learned. And some don’t even try.
They don’t talk to their children about sex.
They don’t talk to them about love.
In Sun Valley is a preschool class of 12 kids, and five were born to teenagers. Nearly every parent is single and most live in subsidized housing, receiving monthly cash assistance, relying upon food stamps. And, no, they’re not illegal immigrants. They’re ours — Latino, black, white.
This is a social issue. It is an economic issue. Teen pregnancy is both product and perpetrator of generational poverty. You’re kidding yourself as a taxpayer and a citizen if you think it has no bearing on your life.
If you want to make it a moral issue, I suggest you talk to Dave, who fumes: “People pass Sun Valley all the time. They park nearby for the Bronco games. But they never see it. They don’t want to see it. Sun Valley is an inconvenience.”
I’m not going to pretend giving young people easier access to birth control is going to significantly dent teen pregnancy. Nor will I say that just because contraception is more readily available, students will avail themselves of it. Contraceptive services must be accompanied by sex education and, yes, that education should include teaching on abstinence.
I do know this. The mamas I talked to Monday in Sun Valley told me the same thing: What’s happening across town at Bruce Randolph is needed. These young women love their babies, but they wish they had waited to become parents. Until they graduated. Until their lives were stable. Until they were no longer kids themselves.
Mini Roundup: Utah Legislator who wanted to eliminate epidurals said his comments were “not for public consumption.” Something tells me he won’t be invited to join the political “Sex Party” any time soon.
Aug 24
- Cuccinelli: State can further regulate abortion clinics – Lynchburg News and Advance
- Australian Sex Party does well – The Hindu
- Sex education, self-control – Manila Bulletin
- Turning Cancer, Other Diseases, Into Causes – NPR
- Obama Requests More Money For HIV/AIDS, Other Health Programs – Medical News Today (press release)
- Tukuran hosts Zambo Sur’s family planning month celebration – Philippine Information Agency
- US Embassy calls for proposals on HIV – Jamaica Observer
- Concern as Pap test rates drop – Sydney Morning Herald
- Only a gutsy loser demands concessions from the winner – TheNewsTribune.com
- Griego: In one neighborhood, school’s birth control policy makes sad sense – Denver Post
- Reliance on birth control misplaced – Gloucester County Times – NJ.com
- Effective Family Planning will enhance achievement of MDGS – Veep – BusinessGhana
- Hudson’s family planning clinics preparing for worst with Christie’s veto – The Jersey Journal – NJ.com
- Abortion increases among girls in Asumura – GhanaWeb
- Save more lives with more funds for screenings – Indianapolis Star
- Family advocates tout new Arizona laws – Arizona Republic
- Teen Pregnancies–Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast – Toronto Sun (blog)
- Raising funds for international medical equality is in fashion – UQ News
- Our View: Your vote counts – Anchorage Daily News
Aug 23
- Birth Control In Schools – CBS42
- Huckabee seems to have actual thoughts and a conscience – Kansas City Star
- Colorado school makes contraceptives available to students – ABC2 News
- Reg’l family planning strategy launching set – Visayan Daily Star
- Epidural, C-section comments overblown, says Utah senator – Salt Lake Tribune
- Hollywood now opening arms to gay characters, families – USA Today
- Need for sex education – Malaysia Star
- KGH cold-shoulders HIV +ve woman, child – Times of India
- US admits human rights shortcomings in UN report – The Associated Press
- Some 200 women gang-raped near Congo UN base – The Associated Press
- Vaccine refusals have nearly quadrupled – San Diego Union Tribune
- Virtual game for teens created to help them say no to sex – Orlando Sentinel
- Virginia Attorney General Offers Legal Opinion That Could Expand State … – FOXNews
- Peeling Away Theories on Gender and the Brain – New York Times
- The Didier Demands – Seattle Times
- New Thinking on C-section Antibiotics – Wall Street Journal
- Merrill Schools Could See Changes to Health Curriculum – WSAW
- Trial set for minister who performed gay weddings – The Salinas Californian
- Interview with James DeCocq, candidate for FL House District 33 – Examiner.com
- Catholic & Transexual: One Woman's Confession – EDGE Boston
- Iowa Board of Medicine Hears From Opponents of Telemed Abortion Process – LifeNews.com
- Txt Msgs No Good 4 Helping Women 2 Take Birth Control Pills: Study – Wall Street Journal (blog)
- Ob/gyn group backs HPV vaccines for 11-12 year olds – Reuters
- Severe bleeding accounts for maternal deaths – Ghana News Agency
- Free Whooping Cough Shots in Placer County – Rocklin and Roseville Today
- New “Life Choices” Family Planning launches promotional campaign – Ghana News Agency
- US Will Give Mozambique $1 Billion to Fight HIV – Voice of America
- Cultural barriers factor in Hmong cancer issue – FOX 21 Online
- Politics blamed for W.Va. high-risk pool costs – BusinessWeek
- The Best Post-Kids Birth Control – Babble (blog)
- Democrat Bill White and Republican Gov. Rick Perry – Texas Tribune Blogs (blog)
- United Nations Uses International Year of Youth to Promote Abortion Globally – LifeNews.com
- Iowa, Fla. Political Races Tainted by Anti-Gay Slurs – EDGE Boston
- Topless protesters turn heads at Venice Beach – Los Angeles Times
- Director of LGBT Rights Program at Human Rights Watch resigns – Pink Paper
- Bill McCollum flip-flop on abortion? – Tampabay.com (blog)
- Prior stress could worsen premenstrual symptoms, NIH study finds – Pharmaceutical Processing
- Chinese In Botswana Ignore Family Planning – Mmegi Online
- Sweet surprise found in ‘The Switch’ – California Chronicle
- US Global Health Intitiative – Voice of America
- Gov Uy sees no clash with church over family planning – Philippine Information Agency
- Pro-Life Group Seeks Investigation of Forcing Students to Pay for Abortions – LifeNews.com
- Abortion debate heats up in final day of GOP race for governor – Palm Beach Post
- Feds file complaint on Fla. abortion protester – MiamiHerald.com
- Have women achieved equality? – Cincinnati.com
- Primary voting shows few changes – Juneau Empire
- Empire editorial: Vote no to both – Juneau Empire
- Australian Sex Party stands proud – Register
- Parents Who Clash More Likely to Spank Kids – U.S. News & World Report
- A Pioneering Effort to Increase Rural Women’s Access to Safe Abortion in Iowa – Firedoglake (blog)
- Condemn violence and admit it’s more than a health issue – Herald Sun
- Fight Over Pre-Abortion Ultrasound Intensifies – ColorLines magazine
- Alaskan Voters To Consider Parental Notification Ballot Measure – Medical News Today (press release)
- Woman Buys Abortion Drug Illegally to Stop Psychotic Depression – ABC News
- Kentucky single mothers group paying Bristol Palin to speak – 14WFIE.com
- Two-Child Policy Quietly Implemented in One County in China – The Epoch Times
- “Enter tiny Imperial County” – California Catholic Daily