Whether schools decide to preach abstinence only or hand out condoms between classes, kids will have sex. Sexual activity is obviously scarcer among the younger set of 11- to 14-year-olds, but it is still prevalent. The health care clinic at Kings Middle School in Portland, Maine recently made the landmark decision to combat pregnancy and offer birth control to students. The decision has raised controversy amongst students and parents alike, as birth control distribution amongst middle schools is not a common practice.
According to ABC News, in the past four years there have been 17 reported pregnancies at the three middle schools in Portland. It is comforting to hear that Kings health center has taken a proactive approach to teenage and preteen pregnancies. Some students - no matter how small in numbers - are engaging in sexual activities and they will be benefited by the school's easy access to birth control.
Students need parental permission to use the school's clinic, but upon receiving that permission, their treatment is confidential and protected by state laws. Students as young as 11 can go to the clinic and have an adult to confide in who is bound by law not to reveal any information to the student's parents.
They can discuss their sex lives, their substance abuse or any of the other taboos pervading their lives. Although it might not curb any student's sexual activities, it will provide them with the necessary information to make responsible decisions, like wearing condoms and using birth control. I am not advocating that middle-schoolers should engage in sex, but I think it is an unavoidable consequence of puberty.
Although only five of the 134 students who frequented Kings health center during the 2006-2007 school years reported having sexual intercourse, I think the clinic is acting unbelievably responsibly. For those five students, the clinic has made a world of difference, offering them the resources they would have typically been denied. And the clinic will continue to make a difference for the next five students who seek assistance.
Kings health center has helped five more students avoid pregnancies, abortions or miscarriages. This is a significant fact. In a perfect world, every student's parents would be open to discussing sex with their kids. A sexually active student would not be too scared to talk to their parents about their concerns. But this is not the case since most kids are ill-informed about how to practice safe sex.
The federal government has been making a push for years to teach abstinence-only programs in schools across the country, despite the long-term scientific study Congress mandated that proved the ineffectiveness of it. According to MSNBC over 2,000 kids in the study were just as likely to have sex as their peers who had not participated.
Abstinence only education does not work. Denying students - no matter how young they may be - access to birth control is a dangerous decision. It doesn't matter if you think a middle-schooler is too young to have sex. Neither you nor I can physically stop them from making these life decisions, but we can offer them the resources they need to protect themselves and their futures.
It is not enough to condemn premarital sex, or to argue that an 11-year-old is just too young. Access to birth control methods and information on the consequences of unprotected sex will not encourage students to have sex. Students who seek this information from the health care clinics will most likely already be sexually active.
If they are not, the information can only help. Increased availability of birth control and other contraceptives does not mean an increase in sex. When RAs tape envelopes full of condoms to their doors, or student organizations hand out condoms in the Campus Center, this does not drastically increase the likelihood of anyone on the receiving end having sex, no matter how much they wish it would.
Kids will have sex whether or not they have the proper tools to practice it safely. According to the Maine Youth Risk Behavior survey, 13 percent of middle school students in Maine are sexually active. I understand that parents should take a larger role in controlling their children's sex lives, but for some kids, there are no responsible adult figures in their home lives.
Kings health clinic provides a useful outlet for students who are sexually active. The benefits of providing sexually active students with birth control far outweigh the alternative: pregnant middle-schoolers.
Melissa Garber is a Collegian editor. She can be reached at mhgarber@student.umass.edu.
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