The Justice

Cartoon by Lisa Frank

I remember the time my mother sat me down to have "the talk" a few weeks after Santa Claus' existence was questioned. My school sent home a paper asking for parental permission to begin sexual education in my fifth grade class. Hesitantly giving her signature, my mom decided to cut short my viewing of Lamb Chop's Play-Along and give me the birds-and-the-bees lecture. My reaction to that conversation was to bring back the cootie-shot hand gestures.

Unlike what my middle school was offering, abstinence-only sex education is an option that emphasizes sexual abstinence before marriage and tends to completely avoid discussion of contraceptives or sexually transmitted diseases. Although no one disputes that abstinence itself is most effective against pregnancy and STDs, the effectiveness of such a program as a comprehensive sexual education is unclear.

Over the last decade, abstinence-only sex education has become common in the United States, largely as a result of such programs recieving federal funding. However, a recent congressional study deduced that middle school students recieving abstinence-only sex education were just as likely to have sex in their teenage years as those who had had comprehensive sex education. Comprehensive education better equips teens to understand the dangers and concerns of sexual activities, but while the efficacy of abstinence only education has been challenged, I believe that fifth graders are too young to be introduced to sexual education and contraceptive use.

Nevertheless, as of late last month a Portland, Maine school committee decided that distributing birth control prescription to students as young as 11 is necessary in their school. This decision comes despite the fact that according to the Maine Youth Risk Behavior Survey, the percentage of middle school students in Maine who reported having sexual intercourse dropped from 23 percent in 1997 to 13 percent in 2005. The decision means King Middle School in Portland will be the first middle school offering a full range of contraception to students in grades six through eight. Types of prescription birth control provided at the health centers include contraceptive pills, patches and injections, as well as the morning-after pill, but not diaphragms or IUDs. Condoms have been provided at The King Student Health Center since its opening in 2000, along with counseling and testing for pregnancy and STDs. Now, parents are concerned that with their authorization for medical care on school grounds, their children will be postponing their immune-healthcare check for contraceptives and prophylactics.

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