Most parents who send their daughters off to school each morning expect them to come home with a backpack full of books, and maybe some homework, at the end of the day.
But some young women are returning home with a newly-implanted IUD, instead.
According to a recent report by NPR, a Washington, D.C. high school is providing female students with everything from extensive information on sex, to prescription birth control on-demand. Although a signed parental consent form is required for students to receive vision and hearing screenings at school, neither parental consent nor parental notification are permitted in “the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of a pregnancy or its lawful termination.”
In a somewhat revolutionary move, Anacostia High School has retained the services of a full-time, on-campus midwife. Under the auspices of reducing teen pregnancy, midwife Loral Patchen advises students about sexuality and contraception, while leaving the ultimate choice about which method to use up to them. Patchen claims that after speaking to her, the student is able to make “a very informed and well grounded decision.”
Again, mention of the role a parent might play in the process is conspicuously and dangerously absent.
It ought to surprise and concern parents, then, to know that “When a student comes in, Patchen can offer counseling and immediate options. If a student decides she wants an IUD, Patchen can insert it on the spot. She can prescribe birth control pills and then hand the student a packet.”
Both birth control pills and the IUD (which stands for IntraUterine Device) carry risks for significant and occasionally long-term side effects, which are being detailed in increasing frequency as more and more women question if the benefit of avoiding pregnancy is worth it. That a student as young as 13 or 14 years old can access such a thing in a publicly-funded school, without a parent ever knowing, should give all parents, and taxpayers in general, pause.
Anacostia’s midwife isn’t just doling out dangerous contraceptives, however. She is also available to test students for a wide range of STD’s, including HIV. These potentially life-altering test results are also withheld from parents, as the law prohibits parental notification about a child’s sexually transmitted disease. Patchen has a strong and very visible presence in the school, interacting with students not only in the clinic but also in the hallways.
Who pays for the services and contraceptives that students are receiving, independent of their parents’ permission?
A grant from the CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield health insurance company provides funding for the school-based, comprehensive health clinic.
No one will be surprised to learn that the abortion-championing organization NARAL is a huge proponent of school-based clinics, such as the one at Anacostia High School. As NARAL itself states, “Their familiarity and accessibility multiply the chances young people will seek out the broad and diverse range of preventive-health services they need.”
Parents, beware. It appears that the public school system--once intended to prepare young people for citizenship and life through the study of the best that Western civilization had to offer--is quickly becoming a vehicle through which to indoctrinate students into a radically progressive belief system. It is no longer enough to simply give schoolchildren information about sex, however. We are now also providing them with intrauterine implants, and carcinogenic, abortifacient hormones.
Sadly, the young women attending Anacostia High School are merely the latest victims of the far-left’s “sex positive” movement.
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