A new poll from the AP of over 1,000 Americans shows some interesting results regarding views on birth control being provided by schools. It is, of course, in response to the “controversy” over the Maine middle school that decided to provide BC as part of its on site health services.
Sixty-seven percent support giving contraceptives to students, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll. About as many – 62 percent – said they believe providing birth control reduces the number of teenage pregnancies. . . .
The 67 percent in the AP poll who favor providing birth control to students include 37 percent who would limit it to those whose parents have consented, and 30 percent to all who ask.
Minorities, older and lower-earning people were likeliest to prefer requiring parental consent, while those favoring no restriction tended to be younger and from cities or suburbs. People who wanted schools to provide no birth control at all were likelier to be white and higher-income earners.
“Parents should be in on it,” said Jennifer Johnson, 29, of Excel, Ala., a homemaker and mother of a school-age child. “Birth control is not saying you can have sex, it’s protecting them if they decide to.”
About 1,300 U.S. public schools with adolescent students – less than 2 percent of the total – have health centers staffed by a doctor or nurse practitioner who can write prescriptions, said spokeswoman Divya Mohan of the National Assembly of School-Based Health Care. About one in four of those provide condoms, other contraceptives, prescriptions or referrals, Mohan said. . . .
Underlining the schisms over the issue, those saying sex education and birth control were better for reducing teen pregnancies outnumber people preferring morality and abstinence by a slim 51 percent to 46 percent.
Younger people were likelier to consider sex education and birth control the better way to limit teenage pregnancies, as were 64 percent of minorities and 47 percent of whites. Nearly seven in 10 white evangelicals opted for abstinence, along with about half of Catholics and Protestants.
In addition, 49 percent say providing teens with birth control would not encourage sexual intercourse and a virtually identical 46 percent said it would.
Though men and women have similar views about whether to provide contraceptives to students, women are likelier than men to think it will not encourage sexual intercourse, 55 percent to 43 percent.
Asked when young people should first be allowed to get birth control, ages 16 and 18 drew the most responses, while only a third chose age 15 or younger. Women’s selections averaged just over age 16, slightly higher than men, while young people and Westerners preferred younger ages than others.
That’s a lot of information to delve into, and how to look at the results is a matter of perspective. Vanessa at Feministing thinks that it’s a good start. The both of us are liberals and feminists who support full access to birth control for all, and yet as a glass half-empty kind of person, I find the results to be fairly depressing.
At first glance, the figure of 67% of people supporting providing birth control to students sounds great, and actually remarkably better than expected. It’s all of the caveats that make the results disappointing, and actually wore than I might have guessed.
Only 37% of people polled think that schools should provide birth control to all who ask. That’s a smaller percentage of the population than those who consider themselves pro-choice!
It’s the 30% of respondents who think that schools should provide birth control and yet require parental permission to obtain it that confuse me most. What the hell are they thinking that this kind of set up will solve?
As I see it, there are two main groups of students who would choose to obtain their birth control through the school. The first is made up of low-income people who fall in the gap between having health insurance and qualifying for Medicare, and don’t know their other options for obtaining birth control (through clinics like Planned Parenthood) or genuinely don’t have other access. The second group is those who are too afraid of their parents finding out to go to their regular doctor, can’t get there without their parents, etc. And obviously there is going to be a fair amount of overlap between the two groups — kids who don’t have access to other health care and also don’t want their parents to find out, kids who don’t know that they can get birth control through their family doctor, kids who have doctors who actually won’t provide birth control, etc.
So who exactly are we trying to help here? Yes, it’s great to provide birth control to students who can’t otherwise afford it and are comfortable enough to talk about it with their parents. How big, though, is that population really going to be? How many of you felt comfortable enough to tell your parents when you first needed birth control? I certainly do know some people who were. My mom did take me to the doctor to get pills when I was 17 and was nice enough to not tell my dad (who probably would have run out to buy a chastity belt), but made me pay for them out of my own money. But for most people, I don’t think that this is an option. And I do know that if I needed BC before I was 17 and about to move out of the house, there is no way in hell that I would have gone to either one of my parents.
It ties back into this idea that really bothers me: that parents have some sort of right over their kids’ sexuality. It’s creepy and wrong. Do I understand why a parent would want to opportunity to have this discussion? Of course. If I had a kid (or ever wanted to have one), I would certainly want to be able to talk to him/her about consent, sexual pressure, emotional readiness, proper use of birth control and the importance of using condoms to protect against STDs. I think that this is a discussion all parents should have with their kids, regardless of whether or not you think they are having or about to have sex. But I would also never want my kid’s discomfort about having that conversation stop him or her from obtaining necessary contraception.
And it will stop a lot of kids. Face it, people: most teens who are having sex don’t talk to their parents about it. And it’s with good reason, because most teens having sex would face an ass-kicking if their parents found out.
I just don’t think it’s right to provide birth control to some kids and not to others, nor do I think that it’s right to allow which kids get pregnant to be decided by which kids have the wackiest parents.
I’m not surprised that white and wealthy people were the least likely to support birth control in schools. It’s a combination of knowing that they have health insurance and therefore not wanting “their tax dollars” to go to some other kid’s health care, and thinking that their kid isn’t going to be the one having sex. It’s typical. The fact that minorities and low-income individuals were most likely to support parental notification surprised me. I’m not sure why this is, but my guess is because minorities and low-income people are more likely to have faced the experience of sacrificing rights (inability to choose doctor, to choose between different courses of treatment, to choose when to have a child, to choose if they can have an abortion, etc.) because of the simple fact that they are not paying for their own services. And, as already covered, people see controlling their children’s sexuality as a “right.” Of course, I don’t think that a person should sacrifice medical or legal rights based on who is paying for their care, but I’ve also stated that I don’t think controlling your teen’s sex life is a right for anyone.
And what about this ridiculousness regarding the ages at which people think providing birth control is acceptable? Look, do I think that most teens younger than 16 are emotionally read to be having sex? Do I think that it’s a good idea for virtually anyone under the age of 15 to have sex? Nope, not really. Do I think that not providing birth control to those kids is going to stop them from having sex? No. How do I know this? Well, because I’ve been to high school. Has anyone who thinks otherwise ever been to high school? Because to hold such a point of view, I don’t see how they could have. Amanda decimates the point of view that we shouldn’t provide birth control to those we think are too young to have sex (in the comments) much better than I could, so check her out. But it does just strike me as common sense.
I’m also highly unimpressed and sadly disappointed to see that numbers so outrageously close on the issues of whether schools should provide comprehensive sex education and whether providing birth control promotes sexual activity. I actually thought that the numbers were a lot better than that — but it may be because I live in NY, and I know from working with Planned Parenthood to promote a bill providing money for comprehensive sex education, the numbers are a lot better than that, here. I’m really glad, and not very surprised, to see that women are more reasonable than men in that regard, but it still feels like banging your head against a wall, sometimes. I knew how to access condoms at about age 14. I knew that I could get other kinds of birth control from Planned Parenthood at about age 15. I didn’t start having sex until 17. But hey, maybe there was just something wrong with me.
But what do you think? I’ve seen more than one person claim that these results show that most Americans are “reasonable” on birth control. When we look at all of the qualifiers that go along with that, though, I see Americans as being far more delusional. So am I being overly negative? Where you pleasantly or sadly surprised by the results, or not surprised at all? Is the fact that the numbers are very slowly getting better a reason to celebrate, or is the fact that they still suck just more evidence that we’ve got a hell of a lot of work ahead of us?
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So who exactly are we trying to help here? Yes, it’s great to provide birth control to students who can’t otherwise afford it and are comfortable enough to talk about it with their parents.
Exactly. This is also the reasoning behind not having parental consent/notification laws for minors seeking abortions. If these people who support those would think through their actions – or, actually, care enough about the young pregnant girl to think about the situation she might be in – they would probably not support these laws. Sure, it’s great if a girl is comfortable enough to tell her parents about her unintended pregnancy and plans to abort. But if she doesn’t feel that comfortable about it, don’t you think SHE knows more about her situation than some random voter who thinks she should have to let her parents in on the situation? Judicial bypasses are good, too, but they are time-consuming and can lead to more missed school, later abortion, etc. It just boggles my mind.
I honestly can’t say what the country thinks. I would say the majority of people in my fairly conservative, relatively blue-collar city do not share my views about birth control for teenagers, especially young teenagers. I grew up in NY and was very surprised when I left to discover how non-mainstream my liberal, feminist views seemed. I’m with Vanessa, although I haven’t read her post yet; those numbers were better than I expected them to be.
I think it’s obvious that schools should offer condoms (both the male-y kind and the female-y kind, as well as dental dams or whatever they’re called) to any student who wants/needs them, and that it should inform all parents “Hey, this is something we do; if you want to talk to your kids about sex, you might want to get on that sooner rather than later.” There’s no risk of this being misinterpreted as permission, because it is permission — it’s saying “We, your school, don’t care if you have sex, as long as you’re safe about it; but we make no statement about what your parents might allow.” My school served pork in the cafeteria, even though there were plenty of Jews and Muslims whose parents didn’t allow them to eat it.
Unlike you, I think parents do have a right to forbid their kids from having sex, but since when does forbidding something prevent it from happening?
Regarding prescription birth control, I really have no idea; it’s actual medication, with the potential for interactions with other medications … I don’t think schools should be giving out medication to a student without at the very least informing the student’s parents (which is tantamount to requiring parental consent, so I guess I fall in the 37% category on that).
I agree with Jay in saying it’s hard to say what the country thinks, particularly from this study. 1000 people divided for study by income and ethnicity isn’t much of a barometer. A thousand people surveyed per demographic would have been better.
Whose responsibility is it to teach kids about sexuality, the school or the parents? My parents never spoke to me once about sex, nor was it taught in my middle school. They only taught what sex is, not what constitutes safe sex.
Forgive me if this is already common knowledge, but are we talking about distributing contraception without having to consult a doctor or nurse at the school (such a consultation would also be confidential of course)?
I have no idea whether they would have to talk to the nurse before getting condoms, but they definitely would before getting any kind of prescription birth control. There’s probably laws about that, and it’s good practice, anyway. You can’t expect anyone, let alone kids, to read the information that comes with their pills, so it’s going to have to be explained. I imagine that most would also advise the kids to use condoms in addition, since teens aren’t exactly the best when it comes to taking BC regularly, because of STDs, and because it’s always a good idea to use a back-up method where there’s the chance for human error. I imagine that they would have a nurse practitioner on staff, but probably not a doctor, though there are quite a few programs across the country and they may vary.
The program in Maine is involving a small health clinic set up inside the school. It’s like the nurse’s office, except they can actually do something for you there, other than giving you a bed to lay down on. Parents have to give permission for their kids to seek care from the school health facility, but they don’t get to provide their permission with restrictions on whether their kid can get birth control.
As for birth control interacting with other medications, there are exceedingly few medicines that would pose a problem. In fact, it’s more likely that a medication — some antibiotics — would interfere with the birth control. But since it is a health care facility, they are going to ask for student health history and have it kept on file.
Of course, there are side effects than can be had with prescription BC, but it’s very easy to stop taking the pill (and potentially switch to another one) if that happens. I don’t know if they’re offering other kinds of hormonal birth control, but I’m quite sure they wouldn’t give Norplant or an IUD to teens (well, anymore), not only because of the increased risks but also because they’re so expensive. Nuvarings pop right out, and Depro is actually used pretty rarely these days. But the pill really is one of the safest drugs on the market. Even if you OD on the stuff, nothing more will happen than some vomiting.
I do feel that we need to be able to give kids access to birth control methods regardless of whether or not we think they’re old enough to have sex. Kids have sex. That’s just the way it is. All we can do is try to make them as educated about it as possible and to make it as easy for them to be safe about it as possible.
I do, however, disagree that we should give young kids access to HORMONAL birth control, with or without parental consent. I haven’t researched this, but I don’t think that there are many studies that show the effects of hormonal birth control on a developing reproductive system.
By the way, I totally disagree about NuvaRings popping right out. I used it for years and never once had a problem with that. I actually just stopped using it a week ago because it was having a negative reaction with my body. I guess I’m just worried because, it messed up my body and I’m an adult. No real harm. But if it messed up a developing reproductive system…I don’t know.
I don’t have any problem with the idea of giving kids access to birth control. And I’m totally in favor of giving kids access to barrier methods of birth control, like condoms and such. If the effects of taking birth control regularly starting at age 12 were found to be harmless, then I’d be all for that, too. I just don’t think the evidence is out there.
That’s hilarious, I totally forgot about the cots in the nurse’s office. They were the solution to every illness and problem in existence.
Please, correct me if I’m wrong.
Jenee, let me clarify — I didn’t mean that a nuvaring would pop right out when you’re walking around, having sex, etc. — I meant that it would pop right out if you wanted it to because you were having negative side effects!!! I’ve never used the Nuvaring, but from what I hear, it stays in place incredibly well.
As for the safety of birth control pills in young teens, I don’t know off the top of my head what studies have been done. The quick research I just did confirms that there is no warning about age other than that using it once you’re over 35 causes an increased risk. I have also heard many stories of very young teens getting the pill because they get their periods at a young age (around 10) and are either not emotionally able to handle it or have really severe cramps and bleeding.
But it’s a good question. I don’t know about what kind of research has been done, and I don’t have the time to do some in depth searching to find out. But if anyone else knows, please do share.
I hope you don’t mind if I respond to something else in your well-reasoned post? If it’s too far off-topic, I apologize.
Face it, people: most teens who are having sex don’t talk to their parents about it. And it’s with good reason, because most teens having sex would face an ass-kicking if their parents found out.
I would add that it doesn’t even have to be such an extreme situation. My parents were quite frank with me about sex and birth control and I wouldn’t have wanted to talk to them about it, for the exact same reasons that I don’t discuss my sex life with my parents now that I’m in my 30s. It’s a private part of my life that has nothing to do with them; there is a strong incest taboo in most cultures for good reason, and that makes talking about sex with parents unpleasant; there are issues that I need to work out without their sometimes overwhelming input. Teenagers have these concerns too, and attempting to force an unpleasant, uncomfortable, invasive conversation on them is neither helpful nor kind, even if it doesn’t lead to abuse.
Very good points, EG. For the record, I meant “ass kicking” in a figurative, though occasionally literal way. But you’re absolutely right. Since I work for Planned Parenthood, I obviously have to be pretty open to discussions about sex (in the office!), but I still very rarely talk about my own sex life in any kind of detail. And I really don’t want to talk about sex at all with anyone I’m related to. I still shudder whenever I think about that time my mother-in-law tried to talk to me about my sex life with her son. Ugh.
I do still think that, for teenagers, being punished in some way is the biggest fear (I mean, just look at these poll results). But we shouldn’t forget that even teens who grow up in households that are very open about sex — like my husband did — generally have discomfort, embarrassment or a general “ew” factor when it comes to talking about sex with family. And I agree that no one wants to start a conversation with “Mom, Dad, I think that I’m gonna start having sex,” no matter who that mom and/or dad are.
People who wanted schools to provide no birth control at all were likelier to be white and higher-income earners.
This didn’t surprise me, and this is that fact that makes me feel like America has such a long way to go to improve attitudes about sex and BC. You see, it’s not just minority teens who are having sex; teens of every race/income can have sex. Most of the time, the places (read: small, white conservative communities) that ignore real sex education by replacing it with the strong promotion of abstinence only education are where teen girls are at an increasing risk of getting pregnant underage or having unsafe abortions. While I’m not an expert, my personal experience in coming from a said small, white conservative community has led me to believe that these are the places where honest information about sex education is really needed. And not by just the teens, but by the parents, too. Parents have to stop believing that because their kid(s) go to church that they’re not having sex (or drinking or doing drugs for that matter).
Also, there is a huge disparity between how easy it is for guys to get condoms and how difficult it is for girls to get birth control pills. I want to see the statistics for how many people think it’s acceptable for 1) schools to give out condoms and for 2) school to give out BC. In my experience, it seems okay to just hand out condoms and have ‘free condom day,’ but girls have to BUY BC most of the time, and perscription is required. All I can say is wtf? Girls are the ones that are going to get pregent, and it would be a little more than just fair to give a women control over her sex life. (And BC can’t leak.)
Well I do think that a prescription should be necessary for BC (other than EC), because there can be side effects, and because the instructions on how to take it are so important, as is the talk about why you should still use condoms.
The problem is that condoms are cheap, but drug companies own all of the different pills, and it is therefore not as cheap. But yes, we should be providing BC for free to low-income women, and it should be more readily accessible.
And actually, a LOT of people have problems with free condoms. It depends on where you are. When I was working the Planned Parenthood table at a health fair at the local community college, a woman complained about the free condoms, saying that if she was a parent of a student, she would be angry. She also pointed out that sometimes high school students take classes there, but it was so insane (still!) that I was speechless. Also, no one would take condoms when I was there at the table. But we left them out during non-fair hours, and the basket was always empty when we came back. The Dean also told us that he saw students taking them, so we know that it wasn’t just some asshole stealing them — people were just too embarrassed to take free condoms. If I wasn’t so picky about the condoms I use, I would personally be jumping all over that shit, but hey, people are crazier and more uptight than you’d believe.
at 17…i believe that birth control ought to be granted to persons over 16 years old without a prescription and parental consent. teenagers do understand sex and the consequences and should be granted the right for birth controls. teenagers are able to buy condoms, well if the condom breaks should they be forced to suffer? no, its not fair and it is not right! most sexually active teens are mature, so why do they need to tell ask their parents to help them get the pills? sex..is a person’s right, a choice you choose to make and society should not determine whether we teens are too young for birth control or not. i mean what if a teen was raped adn she didnt want to tell her family adn face the humilation? should she be forced to possibly get pregnant because she couldnt get the proper birth control? should her life be ruined? seriously its our choice…we know and understand what we are doing
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