While I applaud Kelly Kane’s effort to address middle school sex, Birth control good idea for middle schoolers (SN 11/14) I believe her argument is flawed. She claims that birth control should be readily available to middle school students, simply because some of these preteens will have sex anyway. Her position is not only dangerous but alarming.
Following her logic, adults should give kids alcohol, car keys and maybe drugs, because, after all, they’ll probably do it eventually anyway. Why should the school system condone a hazardous and illegal activity like preteen sex?
I agree that times have changed, but by handing out birth control pills and patches we put a temporary bandage over the gaping wound that is teen sex. Kane fails to address STDs, which occurred at the highest rates ever recorded in 2006, according to The New York Times. Remember, birth control offers zero protection against potentially fatal diseases.
This issue is for parents and doctors to handle, publicly funded schools should not be involved in sexual reproduction to this magnitude. I’d rather see them spend the money on a better educational structure, as American schools are failing. Perhaps our system is too busy trying to make sex safe at any age when our children don’t know basic math and writing skills.
I understand some students will have sex, but by making it safe, we rationalize the behavior for those who feared pregnancy and STDs. Adolescence should be taught more than abstinence, but to provide them with state-sponsored birth control is ludicrous — that’s their parents’ job. We taxpayers shouldn’t be responsible for cheering on preteen pleasure.
Courtney Robinson
journalism senior
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