Birth control in High Schools

By Isela Reyes

Teen pregnancies have skyrocketed in the past few years throughout the country, raising questions over what needs to happen to protect and educate these children who are having children. It is more common these days for a young, single woman to have a baby then in years past. A lot of that stems from several factors including not enough resources and lack of education. Recently, a controversial idea has been raised as a response to a recent spike in teen pregnancies in a Denver area High School, the decision on this case may have the power to radically change the country’s belief system and pave the way for other controversial decisions.
According to the Denver North High School’s health clinic, at least one teenage girl enters a day wanting to do tests to determine if she is pregnant, and more often then not, she is. The city of Denver has more then double the amount of teenage birthrates than the countries average, leaving many to wonder if this is something that officials may do to help these rising statistics. Health clinic officials at the North High School are aware of the area’s inflated birth rates as they examine many teenage girls who come to their clinic for testing. As a result the school officials are considering a controversial proposal in which the high school clinic may offer contraceptives to students. The contraceptives will only be available in the schools six health clinics and will only be available to students.
Many people object to the proposal, saying that it would only serve to encourage the students to have sex and likens the idea to abandoning standards for kids. Those who object say there are better methods of teaching our children and preventing young girls from becoming pregnant. These parents are concerned that handing our contraceptives will make teenagers think they are incapable of conceiving, leading students to have sex more freely and putting them at risk of contracting a deadly disease, like HIV. Some studies suggest that dispensing birth control can increase the number of sexually active kids, but the amount of teen pregnancy does decrease as well. This is the type of evidence that concerned parents look towards when a proposal or idea such as this one arises in their area. They are concerned that their children will become far more sexually active when they are on contraceptives then not.
In Denver, one study done of the local adults found that seventy percent of parents said they were fine with schools offering contraceptives to students as long as the parents have given their consent. This way, those parents who want to protect their children may allow them to have access to birth control, and those who are against the idea don’t have to give their child access to the contraceptive. This is a highly controversial issue and often drives strong proponent reaction to such an issue involving teenagers. This is a strong case whose legal implications will have a strong impact on other rulings around the country if it is passed.