Student health officials say a broad contraceptive program is 'totally needed.'
By KELLEY BOUCHARD Staff Writer
Students who have parental permission to be treated at King
Middle School's health center would be able to get birth control
prescriptions under a proposal that the Portland School
Committee will consider Wednesday.
The proposal would build on the King Student Health Center's
practice of providing condoms as part of its reproductive health
program since it opened in 2000, said Lisa Belanger, a nurse
practitioner who oversees the city's student health centers.
If the committee approves the King proposal, it would be the
first middle school in Maine to make a full range of
contraception available to some students in grades 6 to 8, said
Nancy Birkhimer, director of teen health programs for the Maine
Department of Health and Human Services. Most middle
schoolers are ages 11-13.
Although students must have written parental permission to be
treated at Portland's school-based health centers, state law
allows them to seek confidential health care and to decide
whether to inform their parents about the services they receive,
Belanger said.
Proponents say a small number of King students are sexually
active, but those who are need better access to birth control.
Of 134 students who visited King's health center during the
2006-07 school year, five students, or 4 percent, reported
having sexual intercourse, said Amanda Rowe, lead nurse in
Portland's school health centers.
"This is a service that is totally needed," Rowe said. "It's about
very few kids, but they are kids who don't have the same
opportunities and access as other students."
The percentage of middle school students in Maine who
reported having sexual intercourse dropped from 23 percent in
1997 to 13 percent in 2005, according to the Maine Youth Risk
Behavior Survey.
"Thirteen percent is still more than one in 10 students,"
Birkhimer said.
The School Committee will meet at 7 p.m. in Room 250, Portland
Arts and Technology High School, off Allen Avenue.
Robert O'Brien, who chairs the committee's policy subcommittee,
said his panel has yet to discuss the proposal.
He declined to comment until after the matter has been aired.
The issue could stir controversy, as it has in the past.
"I'm personally fine with it, but I know some parents might not
be," said Jennifer Southard, wife of City Councilor Edward
Suslovic, who has two daughters at King. "I think information
and access are good things. I would hope my children would
come to me, but some students might not have that option."
The city's Division of Public Health, which made the birth-
control proposal, operates seven health centers in Portland
Public Schools in an effort to increase access to physical, dental
and mental health care.
They are located at Portland High School, Deering High School,
Casco Bay High School, King Middle School, West School special
education program, and two elementary schools -- Reiche
Community School and East End Community School.
The first centers opened in the high schools more than a decade
ago, Belanger said.
There are 27 school-based health centers in Maine, 20 of which
are funded and overseen by the state, including those in
Portland, Birkhimer said.
There are more than 1,700 school-connected health centers in
the United States. One in four provides birth control ranging from condoms to
prescription contraception, said Divya Mohan, spokeswoman for
the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care.
Last year, Portland's program cost about $500,000 to operate,
including state and foundation grants, MaineCare/Medicaid and
private health insurance reimbursements, and in-kind
contributions of space and services provided by the city,
Belanger said.
Of 2,877 students eligible to attend Portland's seven health
centers last year, 1,261, or 44 percent, were enrolled. The center
at King, which has 510 students, enrolled 134 students and
tallied 266 visits last year, Belanger said.
The health centers at Portland High, Deering High, Casco Bay
High and West School have provided prescription contraception
as part of overall primary health care since 2003, Belanger said.
The King Student Health Center has provided condoms since it
opened in 2000, along with counseling and testing for
pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, she said.
Contraception would be prescribed after a physical examination
by a physician or nurse practitioner, Belanger said.
Types of prescription birth control available through the health
centers include contraceptive pills, patches or injections, as well
as the morning-after pill. Diaphragms and IUDs are not usually
prescribed, she said.
Belanger said health center workers encourage students to tell
their parents about their health center experiences, but by law
they cannot compel students to do so or inform parents without
the student's consent.
King is the only one of Portland's three middle schools with a
health center, primarily because it has more students who get
free or reduced-price lunch, Belanger said.
Moore and Lincoln middle schools don't have health centers, and
their students are ineligible for treatment at the King Student
Health Center.
Belanger said the top five reasons for visits to the health center
last year were, in descending order: immunizations, physical
examinations, sore throat, upper respiratory infection and
asthma.
Nationally, the top five reproductive health services offered at
school-based health centers were, in descending order:
pregnancy testing, abstinence counseling, HIV/AIDS counseling,
birth control counseling, and the diagnosis and treatment of
sexually transmitted diseases, according to the national
assembly.
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