Portland board votes to offer birth control at middle school

PORTLAND – The local school board voted Wednesday to allow students at a middle school to get birth control pills and patches at the student health center.

The proposal, offered by city health officials, makes King Middle School the first middle school in Maine to make a full range of contraception available to students in grades six through eight, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.

The Portland School Committee voted 5-2 for the proposal. Three student members of the school committee, representing each of Portland’s three high schools, also voted “yes.”

Chairman John Coynie voted against the measure, saying he felt providing the birth control was a parental responsibility. The other “no” vote came from Ben Meiklejohn, who said the consent form does not give a clear enough definition of the services being offered.

Opponents who spoke at the public meeting cited religious and health objections.

Diane Miller said she felt the plan was against religion and against God. Another opponent, Peter Allen, said he felt it violates the rights of parents and puts students at risk of cancer because of hormones in the pill.

A supporter, Richard Verrier, said it’s not enough to depend on parents to protect their children because there may be students who can’t discuss things with their parents.

There are no national figures on how many middle schools, where most students range in age from 11 to 13, provide such services.

“It’s very rare that middle schools do this,” said Divya Mohan, a spokeswoman for the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care.

Condoms have been available since 2002 to King students who have parental permission to be treated at its student health center.

About one-fourth of student health centers that serve at least one grade of adolescents 11 and older dispense some form of contraception, said Mohan, whose Washington-based organization represents more than 1,700 school-based centers nationwide.

Under the Portland proposal, birth control prescriptions would be given after a student undergoes a physical exam by a physician or nurse practitioner, said Lisa Belanger, who oversees Portland’s student health centers.

Students treated at the centers must first get written parental permission, but under state law such treatment is confidential, and students decide for themselves whether to tell their parents about the services they receive.

Proponents of the new proposal say that a small number of King students are sexually active, but that those who are should have better access to birth control.

“I’m personally fine with it, but I know some parents might not be,” Jennifer Southard told The Portland Press-Herald this week. She is the wife of Portland City Councilor Edward Suslovic, who has two daughters at King.

“I think information and access are good things,” Southard told the paper. “I would hope my children would come to me, but some students might not have that option.”

Five of the 134 students who visited King’s health center during the 2006-07 school year reported having sexual intercourse, said Amanda Rowe, lead nurse in Portland’s school health centers.