What Are We Thinking?

Surely by now everyone has heard about the school in Maine that’s handing out birth control to 11-year olds. The issue has mainly been discussed from two viewpoints: “they’re having sex anyway, let’s keep them from screwing up their lives” and “handing them the pill will give them a license to have sex.”

When I think of myself at the age of 11, I personally find it hard to believe that 11-year olds are having sex. Girls that age are still playing with Barbie dolls, chasing butterflies and dotting their i’s with hearts and flowers. Unfortunately this world that we live in is pushing them toward sex earlier and earlier. I’ve got several concerns with this plan, but I’m not seeing them being spoken of much.

My first concern is, does anyone think that an 11-year old who can’t remember to do their homework will actually remember to take a pill — a pill that she’s hiding from her parents — at the same time every day? Unless the school nurse dispenses it personally to a line of kids every day, it’s not going to happen. By telling them that the pill will keep them from getting pregnant we’re giving them a false sense of security. The pill isn’t 100% effective and it’s effectiveness goes to almost zero if you don’t follow the instructions to the letter. The school is now handing them the pill and making a grand promise — a promise that in and of itself might be enough to push them to give it a try.

Is the school going to make sure they take their pills every day? Is the school going to pitch in 18 years of child support when one of these children gets pregnant anyway? Doubt it.

Thanks to the advent of so-called Zero Tolerance drug policies, in most schools, children can’t take an aspirin or even carry around their own asthma inhalers without being suspended or expelled. The school separates them from their lifesaving medications (which can only be retrieved if the school nurse isn’t on a potty break), and instead is going to hand them a prescription drug to take without the permission or supervision of their parents. On what planet is this sane?

How can a physician, who isn’t the child’s primary care doctor, prescribe birth control pills to someone who can’t legally have sex (under age 14) in the state of Maine?! I would think that’d be evidence that a crime is underway. That’d be like granting a concealed carry permit to someone who can’t legally own a gun — and the same people who support this drugging of our children would go absolutely out of their minds at the thought.

There is a huge list of complications and side-effects attached to use of the pill. The pill has been associated with (no matter how rare) blood clots and strokes, certain cancers and depression. A school nurse, who has no knowledge of the child’s medical history (because the child may not even know it fully) is going to hand out the pill without the knowledge of the child’s doctor. This can be deadly. Women who have the Factor V Leiden genetic mutation form blood clots 80x faster/easier than women without the mutation. These women end up with severe medical complications (deep vein thrombosis, pulminary embolism, heart attack, stroke and possibly even death) by taking the pill. A not-so-insignificant percentage of the population has FVL and doesn’t even know it. Statistically speaking, the chance that birth control pill will kill some of these children is greater than 0.

Throw in the fact that we’re taking a child who is going or about to go through puberty with all of the crazy hormone changes and now we’re artificially screwing with their hormones. Some cancers and conditions (such as bone loss) have been tied to estrogen and progesterone levels in adults. I hesitate to think about what will happen to our children who get started on these hormones early.

And even more importantly, how can a doctor treat their young patients if they don’t know that they are on the pill? Some girls may very well end up pregnant at 11 and 12 because they are prescribed antibiotics that kill the effectiveness of their birth control and they don’t even know it. Girls who end up in the emergency room could end up being given medication that interacts poorly with the pill, simply because no one could pass that knowledge on to the treating physicians.

With birth control pills available to young children, I predict that the incidences of sexual abuse by adults will rise. Think about it for a moment. We’re all disgusted by stories of young girls (11, 12, 13) with 21-year old boyfriends. If the girl is already on the pill, how much easier will it be for these sick adults to pressure them for sex when the fear of pregnancy has been thrown out the window…

Somewhere in the middle of all of this, I was shocked to find out that Baltimore City girls as young as 12 have been getting birth control pills and even Norplant at school for over 20 years. Right under my nose.. and I’m paying for this crap! Are we out of our minds?!

Handing birth control pills to 11-year olds is like handing a loaded gun to a three year old. Sooner or later they’re going to pull the trigger. Instead of getting our children pumped up on hormones and running around dressed like tramps maybe we should start de-sexualizing them. I never thought I would see the day when birth control pills would be the new “but everyone’s doing it!” The easiest way to stop pregnancy is to not have sex. Period. We ought to try teaching our pre-teen kids that instead of showing them how to put condoms on bananas.

I saw a billboard on my way into Baltimore City yesterday afternoon that I think is very applicable here:

Virgin isn’t a dirty word.

I think it’s high time that some adults figured that one out.

Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically each day to your feed reader.