Birth Control in Schools: Kid Friendly or Are You Kidding?

October 10, 2008

Whether there was a pregnancy pact at Glouchester High or not, the Massachusetts school made headlines and as a result contraceptives will be distributed there and at other district high schools with parental consent. What's your opinion?

70 Comments

amerikanbeanhead 4 years 31 weeks

Justanerd- prehaps yell is a stronger word that was required however understand that this is a HUGE issue for a lot of people. When you quote the bible, it is true for you but for many people on here, the bible is either just a book or not true. Before you say that I think your a freaky fanatical and I have never read the bible, please do understand that while I am a christian and I am active in my church in many ways, my religion may have a different interpretation of the bible than yours. I have always been taught to hate the sin and love the sinner. Only God can judge, it is not up to me to tell other people how to live their lives. I accept everybody and their sins. I am not perfect therefore I can not tell somebody that they are wrong for being gay ( which I dont believe is a sin, its the way you were born, imho) , or for not wanting to have condoms etc in schools. God loves us unconditionally, even when we mess up. I dont think anybody is bad based upon what the believe or do not believe. I fail to understand how many of my friends feel that somebody who has never heard the word of God is going to hell. I just dont understand. Even for those who have. I have always felt that if you are a good person in general you are most likely living along with the rules that God put forth for people and that heaven is still an option for them. I dont think you can interpret every part of the bible as true because there are some very antiquated ideals in there. I think that most of the bible is filled with stories of how God wants people to treat each other and if more Christians actually lived a chrisitan life people wouldnt think of christians as so judgemental. If we all just were nice to each other and forgiving of each other the world would be a much much better place. All I am trying to say is that the Bible may or may not be totally true, if people were kinder to each other the world would be a better place, only God can judge and prehaps yell was a stronger wording than necessary justanerd

Jessiebanana 4 years 31 weeks

Oh and the high school I graduated from has a planned parenthood center on campus and we had lower teenage pregnancy rates than any other school in our district and even beat most of the schools in higher income areas. Just my personal experience.

Jessiebanana 4 years 31 weeks

justanerd...What about AIDS? Your children may be able to step up to the plate and handle the consequences of a baby. Babies are beautiful things regardless of entrance, but there is nothing beautiful about AIDS. Protecting yourself from STD's is a very mature adult decision, not a cop out to escape consequences. Now what I'd like to see is gay sex ed. Not a how to manual. Gay teens are real and everyone deserves to be informed. To save you from looking at my profile, I am queer. You don't have to worry about my soul cause I'm already agnostic ;).

Jessiebanana 4 years 31 weeks

justanerd...What about AIDS? Your children may be able to step up to the plate and handle the consequences of a baby. Babies are beautiful things regardless of entrance, but there is nothing beautiful about AIDS. Protecting yourself from STD's is a very mature adult decision, not a cop out to escape consequences.Now what I'd like to see is gay sex ed. Not a how to manual. Gay teens are real and everyone deserves to be informed.To save you from looking at my profile, I am queer. You don't have to worry about my soul cause I'm already agnostic ;).

PinkUnicorn 4 years 31 weeks

Ugh. I am so thankful I live in Canada where sex is not such a hot-button issue. We get proper sex-education in school and birth control and condoms are no big deal.

Frank y Ava 4 years 31 weeks

I would be ok with it if they were handing out condoms without parental consent. When you buy condoms you don't have to be a certain age (a 10 year-old can buy condoms). Now a pill is something different, I would definitely perfer that I have consent (if i was a parent, which I'm not).

alethia037 4 years 31 weeks

Actually, the post says "contraceptives will be distributed there and at other district high schools with parental consent." I would not be okay with it if parents were not involved... that just gives kids too much free reign.

justanerd1975 4 years 31 weeks

alethia, the post doesn't say that the school nurse will be distributing the BC, or that someone else will be in control of it, does it? Most of the reports I have heard say that the goal is to help kids get BC anonymously, so more teens will be likely to use it. The condom-dispenser in the bathroom is soon likely to be a reality in middle schools & high schools all across America...

alethia037 4 years 31 weeks

I think the important thing here is that parental consent is required for the birth control... they aren't just handing it out like candy folks.

justanerd1975 4 years 31 weeks

anne, God did not allow satan to hurt Job in all those ways to "test the health of Job's faith", that is incorrect. Satan afflicted Job with all of that to get him to curse God. The story of Job shows us that satan is always trying to afflict believers to get them to curse God, and "give up" as Job's pleaded with him to do. Just to clear up the book of Job for you: God was approached by satan, satan was mocking him and telling himm that His people only believed because they had such prosperity and that the second the didn't,they would curse God. God said, have you considered my servant Job? His faith is strong and true- satan then afflicted him to get him to curse God. And I always quote from all parts of the Bible, you clearly don't read all of my posts ;) Of course I believe the entire word of God is inerrant. That doesn't mean that I choose to assimilate to wrong beliefs under the guise of loving my neighbor- I can love my neighbor and disagree with him about what is right and what is wrong at the same time. I said that your church failed because if you were doing those things and they knew about ti and did nothing, that is a failure on their part. You making the choices you did despite being brought up by righteous Christian parents was your own failure to live righteously as you were taught to do. There are always kids who choose to live in rebellion to what their parents have taught them, despite the parent having done the right things in raising them. Only God knows if that will happen to me with one of mine. My only responsibility in how they turn out is to raise them as the word of God says I should, and the rest is up to them and God. There is a wo0nderful promise though: "If you raise them up in the way they should go, they will not depart from it when they are older" so there is still hope for you and your getting right with God anne ;) frimpled, I read your comment and understand what you are saying. I realize that we differ in our beliefs about how children should be raised and about what healthy sex is, so all I am going to say is that I am sorry my previous comment about your mom being proud of your having teenaged sex was insulting and I will think more carefully about how I say things in the future, as I am trying to do now. I do believe that it is a shameful thing for teens to do this, and I believe that they know inside that it is too, that's why they sneak around and do it. But I certainly realize that your mom, you and others have the free will to choose however you want to about sex and every other facet of human living. lilashleyxox, I'm sure that you are ;)

justanerd1975 4 years 31 weeks

lilashleyxox 4 years 31 weeks

im glad justanerd isnt my mother.

frimpled 4 years 31 weeks

Justanerd- My mother is perfectly proud of me having SAFE sex during my teen years. Most teens who are having sex (and lots of teens ARE engaging in some kind of sexual activity) don't have safe sex, and rely on pulling out/praying or some other stupid method. I started having sex at 14 because I trusted my boyfriend, we were both aware of what we were doing, and we were both comfortable with the idea. I've always used protection and only had sex when I completely trust and love the person. Not everyone takes sex SO seriously or thinks that people should wait until marriage, in fact, that seems like a ridiculous idea to me. 6 years of teen sex and I'm clean, never been pregnant, and have a perfectly normal view of the world. I'm not some kind of social degenerate for having a healthy view of sex. I believe in schools making protection available because kids are ashamed to go and buy condoms themselves. Not having protection won't keep a teenager from having sex!

frimpled 4 years 31 weeks

Justanerd- My mother is perfectly proud of me having SAFE sex during my teen years. Most teens who are having sex (and lots of teens ARE engaging in some kind of sexual activity) don't have safe sex, and rely on pulling out/praying or some other stupid method. I started having sex at 14 because I trusted my boyfriend, we were both aware of what we were doing, and we were both comfortable with the idea. I've always used protection and only had sex when I completely trust and love the person. Not everyone takes sex SO seriously or thinks that people should wait until marriage, in fact, that seems like a ridiculous idea to me. 6 years of teen sex and I'm clean, never been pregnant, and have a perfectly normal view of the world. I'm not some kind of social degenerate for having a healthy view of sex.I believe in schools making protection available because kids are ashamed to go and buy condoms themselves. Not having protection won't keep a teenager from having sex!

annebreal 4 years 31 weeks

Justanerd - is it really worthwhile to quote what is popularly thought to be an allegory, the book of Job, as a dose of reality? That right after the devil looked for whom he may devour God accepted a challenge from him, and as a consequence of that, stripped a man of his livelihood, children's lives, and health to test Job's faith? If that book is a sobering reality of the character of Satan, it could also serve as a sobering reality of God's character. That's why I personally view it as allegory, because I do believe God is all good and wouldn't intentionally cause someone to suffer to prove something to his inferior. Plus there's no historical evidence for it. Maybe you should question things rather than be spoon-fed off a pulpit (assuming that all your comments are serious, and not a joke to rile people up, which I'm kind of hoping they are?). But I always find it hysterical that fundamental, knee-jerk far-right evangelicals seem to tout all the scriptures in the world except the ones that warn against passing judgment and loving your neighbor as yourself and being slow to quarrel. Yeah, there is an adversary. But by being hard-nose, intolerant, and completely stereotypical of a certain sect of reactionary, unthinking Christianity, do you really think you're helping our cause? Seriously? Yeah, you're entitled to your opinion, I'm not denying that, but I don't have to like it when you make my spiritual choice look bad in the process. It's an example (of many, of course, there are a lot of things wrong with the church) of why people are opposed to or don't take the church seriously anymore. And my personal choices aren't a direct result of a parenting failure or a church failure. I find it funny though, that both my parents and my church preached the same values you're spewing, and my church failed? Is that because putting it on my parents could hit a little too close to home?

annebreal 4 years 31 weeks

Justanerd - is it really worthwhile to quote what is popularly thought to be an allegory, the book of Job, as a dose of reality? That right after the devil looked for whom he may devour God accepted a challenge from him, and as a consequence of that, stripped a man of his livelihood, children's lives, and health to test Job's faith? If that book is a sobering reality of the character of Satan, it could also serve as a sobering reality of God's character. That's why I personally view it as allegory, because I do believe God is all good and wouldn't intentionally cause someone to suffer to prove something to his inferior. Plus there's no historical evidence for it. Maybe you should question things rather than be spoon-fed off a pulpit (assuming that all your comments are serious, and not a joke to rile people up, which I'm kind of hoping they are?). But I always find it hysterical that fundamental, knee-jerk far-right evangelicals seem to tout all the scriptures in the world except the ones that warn against passing judgment and loving your neighbor as yourself and being slow to quarrel. Yeah, there is an adversary. But by being hard-nose, intolerant, and completely stereotypical of a certain sect of reactionary, unthinking Christianity, do you really think you're helping our cause? Seriously? Yeah, you're entitled to your opinion, I'm not denying that, but I don't have to like it when you make my spiritual choice look bad in the process. It's an example (of many, of course, there are a lot of things wrong with the church) of why people are opposed to or don't take the church seriously anymore.And my personal choices aren't a direct result of a parenting failure or a church failure. I find it funny though, that both my parents and my church preached the same values you're spewing, and my church failed? Is that because putting it on my parents could hit a little too close to home?

justanerd1975 4 years 31 weeks

tinker, I was thinking more the opposite...knowing that I could get pregnant at a young age and knowing that I had no birth control to rely on sure kept me from having sex when I wanted to! I'm glad I had that healthy fear of knowing that bad choices have consequences that I will have to pay attatched to them. That helped me all throughout life, with many decisions...financial, friends, relationships, jobs, etc.etc.

justanerd1975 4 years 31 weeks

amerikan... I yelled ..? when was that? K.....and, I didn't say lightening would strike anyone. I think you need to stop putting words into my mouth. As far as my saying that your kids will have sex as teens if you have that attitude, I stick by that. I don't mean to be insulting,however. People on here have no trouble expressing to me how they think my kids are going to turn out, so it seems to be par for the course to make speculations... and before you assume that Christians are not good whereas Christ is good, look to all the good Christians do and then see if you change your mind. Not perfect people, but doing much good in the world, by God's grace.... anne, that is a shame. Maybe your church was a failure, but that doesn't mean that it is wrong to stick to the foundational beliefs of Christianity.... I do educate my kids about sex and birth control, as I said before. They will not be uneducated, they will be taught that God and their parents expect them to abstain until marriage and if they don't, they will have to own up to the consequences- same thing I knew when I was growing up! tinkerbelle, i think that is a shame...that teen sex is considered normal now.And it's not me who says satan is romaing the earth- you say you have read your bible many times-how do you not know that it was the Lord who said that? How do you not know that the devil is real and present today? Maybe you were sleep-reading. Look up these scriptures for yourself; if you don't believe me that's fine by me but will you disbelieve God?... Job 1:7 "And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it, looking for whom I may devour..." this is a sobering warning, if you take it so lightly and even mock it as yyou have here tinkerbelle, you will be very sorry because he(satan) will be able to gain control of you, as he already has, getting you to believe that he is make-believe and not a threat to you. Anywho, regardless of your personal feelings about me and how I raise my family, and my opinions about these things, the word of God will not be judged by me or my opinions. His word is true and it will stand long after we are all gone. If we choose not to hear it, then that is our choice. We will reap the consequences of whatever choices we make, as all of you know already....as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

justanerd1975 4 years 31 weeks

amerikan... I yelled ..? when was that?K.....and, I didn't say lightening would strike anyone. I think you need to stop putting words into my mouth. As far as my saying that your kids will have sex as teens if you have that attitude, I stick by that. I don't mean to be insulting,however. People on here have no trouble expressing to me how they think my kids are going to turn out, so it seems to be par for the course to make speculations...and before you assume that Christians are not good whereas Christ is good, look to all the good Christians do and then see if you change your mind. Not perfect people, but doing much good in the world, by God's grace....anne, that is a shame. Maybe your church was a failure, but that doesn't mean that it is wrong to stick to the foundational beliefs of Christianity.... I do educate my kids about sex and birth control, as I said before.They will not be uneducated, they will be taught that God and their parents expect them to abstain until marriage and if they don't, they will have to own up to the consequences- same thing I knew when I was growing up! tinkerbelle, i think that is a shame...that teen sex is considered normal now.And it's not me who says satan is romaing the earth- you say you have read your bible many times-how do you not know that it was the Lord who said that? How do you not know that the devil is real and present today? Maybe you were sleep-reading. Look up these scriptures for yourself; if you don't believe me that's fine by me but will you disbelieve God?...Job 1:7 "And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it, looking for whom I may devour..." this is a sobering warning, if you take it so lightly and even mock it as yyou have here tinkerbelle, you will be very sorry because he(satan) will be able to gain control of you, as he already has, getting you to believe that he is make-believe and not a threat to you.Anywho, regardless of your personal feelings about me and how I raise my family, and my opinions about these things, the word of God will not be judged by me or my opinions. His word is true and it will stand long after we are all gone. If we choose not to hear it, then that is our choice. We will reap the consequences of whatever choices we make, as all of you know already....as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

tinkerbellkrisp 4 years 31 weeks

Kids having sex is a problem, even in high school. Even though MANY people have had sex in high school, and its considered normal now, we can't justify our own behavior and say its fine for our kids to do the same. Sex should only be for one reason, and I know it's hokey, but it is love. It means SO MUCH more when you're in love, and its too risky to have it for other reasons - STDs, pregnancy, emotional blackmail, etc. I waited until I was 20, and I was NO PRUDE. The backseat of my boyfriends car in high school got just as steamy as anyone else's - I just wasn't having sex, and I've never regretted it. However, I could not have made the choice not to have sex if I hadn't been FULLY INFORMED about the consequences and given the option to do what I wanted if it felt right. I always had condoms in my purse just in case. I cherished feeling in control of my own life as a teenager. In fact, it was one of the most important aspects of becoming an adult - feeling free and making concious decisions for myself, rather than doing exactly what my parents told me to do. How depressing is it to tell children they are too stupid to understand they shouldn't have sex, so we just won't let them know about it!

Telling a teenager they are forbidden to have sex is a sure fire way to have them go out and have sex immediately. Why not give them all their options, stressing our expectations along the way, and let them choose their destiny? If they're old enough to drive a car, they're old enough to understand how to avoid making terrible mistakes. Let THEM choose and give them condoms just in case their choice is different than what we want it to be. That is true responsibility and parenting. Because, let's face it, in 4-5 short years, they're on their own and they should know how to make even more life altering decisions by then. If we haven't taught them that yet, they'll be even more susceptible to the ever present devil as justanerd1975 seems to think is roaming the earth. (And yes, I HAVE READ THE ENTIRE BIBLE MULTIPLE TIMES, and I didn't see any mention about a mythical devil controlling my mind in there - tee hee!).

tinkerbellkrisp 4 years 31 weeks

Kids having sex is a problem, even in high school. Even though MANY people have had sex in high school, and its considered normal now, we can't justify our own behavior and say its fine for our kids to do the same. Sex should only be for one reason, and I know it's hokey, but it is love. It means SO MUCH more when you're in love, and its too risky to have it for other reasons - STDs, pregnancy, emotional blackmail, etc. I waited until I was 20, and I was NO PRUDE. The backseat of my boyfriends car in high school got just as steamy as anyone else's - I just wasn't having sex, and I've never regretted it. However, I could not have made the choice not to have sex if I hadn't been FULLY INFORMED about the consequences and given the option to do what I wanted if it felt right. I always had condoms in my purse just in case. I cherished feeling in control of my own life as a teenager. In fact, it was one of the most important aspects of becoming an adult - feeling free and making concious decisions for myself, rather than doing exactly what my parents told me to do. How depressing is it to tell children they are too stupid to understand they shouldn't have sex, so we just won't let them know about it! <br><br>Telling a teenager they are forbidden to have sex is a sure fire way to have them go out and have sex immediately. Why not give them all their options, stressing our expectations along the way, and let them choose their destiny? If they're old enough to drive a car, they're old enough to understand how to avoid making terrible mistakes. Let THEM choose and give them condoms just in case their choice is different than what we want it to be. That is true responsibility and parenting. Because, let's face it, in 4-5 short years, they're on their own and they should know how to make even more life altering decisions by then. If we haven't taught them that yet, they'll be even more susceptible to the ever present devil as justanerd1975 seems to think is roaming the earth. (And yes, I HAVE READ THE ENTIRE BIBLE MULTIPLE TIMES, and I didn't see any mention about a mythical devil controlling my mind in there - tee hee!).

Mrs StClair 4 years 31 weeks

"My non-existent kids are having sex because I don't believe in God?" hahaha that actually made me lol... anyway learning about something does not mean you have to practice it. i'm sure if justanerd were to learn about other religions, she wouldn't go practice them. you learn about things online or in the news or whatever, and it doesn't mean you're going to think "oh hey that's awesome I'm going to go do it right now" teens aren't stupid. teens do have their own mind. and, of course they're not adults, but guess what? if they really want something, they're going to do it. it's sex EDUCATION class. not sex encouragement class. learning about your body and the opposite sexs' body isn't bad. learning about protecting yourself from life-threatening diseases isn't bad, SHOULD YOU CHOOSE to have sex. again, it's not forcing teenagers to fuck, it's teaching them the consequences of doing it. so many parents dont teach their children, and i think it's totally fine for schools to. maybe have some sort of waiver so the religious folks don't have heart-attacks. a certain teen celebrity is pregnant again because she though that she couldn't get pregnant while breastfeeding. isn't that absurd? that she didn't understand that sperm & egg = baby? it seems so stupid, but she DIDN'T KNOW! if she was educated on conception, sex, birth control, then she wouldn't have gotten pregnant again. again, it's education. it's not like they're locking a boy and a girl in a room and making them do it! lol

Mrs StClair 4 years 31 weeks

"My non-existent kids are having sex because I don't believe in God?" hahaha that actually made me lol...anywaylearning about something does not mean you have to practice it. i'm sure if justanerd were to learn about other religions, she wouldn't go practice them.you learn about things online or in the news or whatever, and it doesn't mean you're going to think "oh hey that's awesome I'm going to go do it right now"teens aren't stupid. teens do have their own mind. and, of course they're not adults, but guess what? if they really want something, they're going to do it. it's sex EDUCATION class. not sex encouragement class. learning about your body and the opposite sexs' body isn't bad. learning about protecting yourself from life-threatening diseases isn't bad, SHOULD YOU CHOOSE to have sex. again, it's not forcing teenagers to fuck, it's teaching them the consequences of doing it. so many parents dont teach their children, and i think it's totally fine for schools to. maybe have some sort of waiver so the religious folks don't have heart-attacks. a certain teen celebrity is pregnant again because she though that she couldn't get pregnant while breastfeeding. isn't that absurd? that she didn't understand that sperm & egg = baby? it seems so stupid, but she DIDN'T KNOW! if she was educated on conception, sex, birth control, then she wouldn't have gotten pregnant again. again, it's education. it's not like they're locking a boy and a girl in a room and making them do it! lol

annebreal 4 years 31 weeks

Justanerd - I am a Christian and I find your assumption that because I disagree with your sweeping generalities and paranoia means I don't believe in the same god you do offensive. Also understand that setting rigid, fundamental boundaries isn't fool-proof. I was raised in a fundamental Christian home, attended a very conservative, tiny Christian school (graduated with 15 others) and was far from a virgin when I graduated. In fact, most of the previously homeschooled kids ended up being the most rebellious and promiscuous in that school. I'm not saying that that'll happen to your kids - although you made assumptions about mine - but don't think that because you set rules and preach doesn't mean your kids won't have their own ideas.

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