Birth control for 6th graders? Ripple Effects response

Timely from the Top: An occasional column by Alice Ray

Last night ABC News carried a story about a middle school clinic that distributed birth control pills to sixth graders who asked for them.  Many parents are outraged. As someone who has worked for three decades to prevent sexual exploitation of children, three things occur to me:

• Eleven year old children do indeed seem too young to be able to make an informed decision about sex, that’s why there are statutory rape laws, BUT

• Some middle schoolers, including those who are struggling academically, are as old as 15 (as was apparently the case in this school), and some of them do engage in consensual sex.  Many younger girls are pressured into sex by older boyfriends. While the rate of sexual activity in the US is not higher than other industrialized nations, the rate of sexually transmitted diseases in the US  is 50 to 100 times higher for some STD’s.  HIV, AIDS, diminished infertility, life long herpes -  and yes - pre-teen pregnancy, are all possible outcomes.  AND

• Leading experts on child sexual abuse believe there has been a shift in the form of sexual exploitation of children – and not just to on-line predators.  We used to worry most about children being tricked or bullied into sexual activity by someone they know and trust.  Now we are seeing more and more cases of “compliant victimization,” Many children are going through puberty as early as nine years old. They are approaching sexual behavior like it’s a game, almost like a contact sport, like soccer. In many cases, they are emulating behavior they see in music videos.  We need a lot more information to know how best to change this disturbing cultural trend.

Here's how we at Ripple Effects have responded. Among the hundreds of tutorials in our software-based training program for middle school and high school students are ones on birth control, safer sex, sexual abuse, STD's and date rape. (Of course, abstinence, decision-making, predicting consequences, and standing up for beliefs are also included.)  These tutorials include true video stories from young people who contracted STD's or became pregnant in their early teens.

Because a data base structure holds the program these topics can easily be censored out with a click of an administrator's mouse.  We recommend just that for most sixth grade classes.  We recommend these topics stay included when the program is being used in counseling, or health clinic settings.  But we recognize that how much and when and what to include is a sensitive, politically charged and difficult decision. It's one local people must make, not us. That's why we leave it in their hands.

Comments?

More Timely from the Top:
10/11/07 Fall out from school discipline... Two stories
09/25/07 In light of Jena
07/11/07 Alice Ray on Recent Supreme Court Ruling