Liberalism at it's worst (private school, San Francisco, kids, schools)

[part_iv]

Originally Posted by MooksterL1

Birth control pills do not make it safe to be promiscuous. They generally prevent pregnancy, but do nothing to prevent the spread of STDs. Which is one of the many reasons why giving the pill to middle school student's is a stupid idea!

But in combatting pregnancy, they're much more effective than condoms. Aren't they giving condoms to the students too, though?

[dreamofmonterey]

Originally Posted by ontheroad

Taking a different view here:

- it is well documented that adolescents are having sex earlier. Adolescents as young as 10, 11 and 12 are more commonly experimenting with sex, and few have access to sex education--hence the increase in STIs, and early pregnancy is rising.

- HIV cases have been reported in 11 year olds.

- contraception is a means of prevention and should be viewed as a help-mate rather than an intrusion (see the thread on abortion).

- health clinics in schools are often an extension of a health care facility, and provide services to middle and high schools at no additional cost to the tax-payer. The clinics are run by professional personnel from the medical centre, university or hospital that officiates the programs.

- having health clinics in schools has reduced many health concerns in various communities and has provided needed emergency care and/or short term care for in-school adolescents.

- many health care programs in schools also offer training programs for the student body; students who are then prepared to provide additive information to their peers. Peer training on all levels, adolescent or adult, has proven more successful than programs that do not share commonality of age, gender and culture.

As you were in the medical field, you bring the voice of reason and EDUCATION. Kids need health/hygiene class...the alternative I see in Carter County Tennessee is billboards stating ""Abstinence is best""----lol sheer ignorance....That is why Tenn has 14 year old girls and unwed mothers....living in trailers...ignorance. Some are not even high school graduates, it is shocking.

[ArizonaBear]

Originally Posted by LoveMiiorHateMii

After reading this, I think that this is a right-wing issue....you know they would hate for an 11 year old to get an abortion...so why not put them on the pill to prevent such a despicable act!



On a more serious note, the birth control pill does not only prevent pregnancy...it reduces the menstral cycle days, the cramps and bloating associated with it and sometimes can help with acne. I know plenty of girls who were on birth control because they had violent cramps. My roomate whom is also my best friend used to fall out on the floor crying, wouldnt move because of the severity of her cramps. My cycle lasted for 7 WHOLE days HEAVY, to the point where I was anemic, and my doctor recommened birth control and now it is lighter, and last 4 days. They can be very helpful.

And men, you do not know how it feels to bleed for 7 days, feel like you wanna kick in a wall, yell at everyone who gets on your nerves and can't fit into your favorite jeans on certain days...its a horrible feeling and I got mine when I was 9.

You are not the only woman using The Pill (or similar) to regulate your periods......I have heard/known of several-----even when not sexually active.

And my now ex wife; her menarche was @ age 9 as well.

[ontheroad]

Interesting question: condom distribution in schools? In NYS, no. And in fact, I believe we were not permitted to buy condoms with government funding. If I remember correctly a foundation bought them for our Units, and we distributed them state-wide, but not to schools.

However, when I worked in MA, I was able to get condoms directly from the State, but then I was a provider and don't know if they, too, had a non-government organisation purchase them.

But in NYS and in MA, we were not authorised to distribute condoms to schools, and in some cases, we were not permitted to distribute them to other agencies.

Originally Posted by part_iv

But in combatting pregnancy, they're much more effective than condoms. Aren't they giving condoms to the students too, though?

[ParkTwain]

Originally Posted by ArizonaBear

And my now ex wife; her menarche was @ age 9 as well.

Exactly. Oh no, a scientific fact has intruded its way into this thread! You just never hear the G.O.P. (or evangelical) gray beards addressing this astounding reality taking place every day among young female Americans.

Some of these hormones are literally in our drinking water (runoff from farms raising hormone-enriched cattle) probably also in our whole milk (from hormone-enriched dairy animals) and are affecting other (i.e., non-human) animal species (like FISH, who get to SWIM in them all day every day) as well.

FACTS! FACTS! NO MORE FACTS FOR CONSERVATIVES! Conservatism, by definition, doesn't deal well with changes in reality. (I would hate to be an adherent of a political philosophy that doesn't recognize the basic fact that human society changes over time.)

[MooksterL1]

Originally Posted by ParkTwain

Exactly. Oh no, a scientific fact has intruded its way into this thread! You just never hear the G.O.P. (or evangelical) gray beards addressing this astounding reality taking place every day among young female Americans.

Some of these hormones are literally in our drinking water (runoff from farms raising hormone-enriched cattle) probably also in our whole milk (from hormone-enriched dairy animals) and are affecting other (i.e., non-human) animal species (like FISH, who get to SWIM in them all day every day) as well.

FACTS! FACTS! NO MORE FACTS FOR CONSERVATIVES! Conservatism, by definition, doesn't deal well with changes in reality. (I would hate to be an adherent of a political philosophy that doesn't recognize the basic fact that human society changes over time.)

I'm sorry, but I do not see how your post relates to this thread at all. Would you care to explain?

[ParkTwain]

Evidently, the OP believes that providing birth control pills to girls age 11 to 13 is not proper public policy or perhaps is inappropriate to be administered via a middle school. However, doing so in the first place is an attempt by a public institution to address the scientific fact that those girls would be capable of conceiving a child. Under what practical considerations to provide those pills to those girls is certainly an important part of the policy and should be negotiated with the proper community representatives in a sensitive and respectful manner.

If conservatives reject this entire policy, I would say that this would be a "head in the sand" response that is not helpful to at least some of those girls, such as those who have NOT been informed by their own parents/guardians about the nature and ramifications of sexual behavior, even at their young age, after the onset of menarche.

The average age of onset of menarche has been trending younger for some time. This is a fact and must be taken into consideration in all the relevant public policies.

Average age of menarche, at the Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health
//
Emeritus Professor Norbert Kluge of the Universität Koblenz-Landau wrote in the Internet publication "Beiträge zur Sexualwissenschaft und Sexualpädagogik" that girls in 1992 had their first period on average at 12.2 years old and in 2010 will have it around 10 or 11 years of age.

Researchers noted the trend 140 years ago. In 1860 the average menarche happened at 16.6 years, in 1920 at 14.6, in 1950 at 13.1 and 1980, 12.5 years.
//


When Little Girls Become Women: Early Onset of Puberty in Girls (http://www.center4research.org/children11.html - broken link)
//
This article appeared in The Ribbon, a newsletter of the Cornell University Program on Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors in New York States (BCERF), Vol 6, No. 1, Winter 2001.

When Little Girls Become Women: Early Onset of Puberty in Girls

Diana Zuckerman Ph.D.
Executive Director, National Center for Policy Research for Women & Families
Washington, DC
...
Pediatricians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants examined three to 12-year-old girls between July 1992 and September 1993. Girls were recruited who came for a well-child visit, or for a problem that would routinely require a complete physical.
...
Menarche occurred in the girls’ eleventh year for 28% of African-American girls and 13% of white girls. At age 12, 62% of African-American girls and 35% of white girls had begun menstruating. For white girls in the US, the age of first menstruation has remained stable over the past 45 years. In African-American girls, age at menarche has declined by about 6 months in the past 20 to 30 years. The authors felt that the change in age at menarche in African-American girls may be due to their coming closer to achieving optimal nutritional and health status.

Girls in this study were taller and heavier than in the first and second National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES, which occurred more than 20 years ago), especially the older girls. Girls in the study who had one or more secondary sexual characteristic were larger and heavier than girls who had not begun puberty. A 1994 report on the National Growth and Health Study found a similar increase in the height and weight of nine and 10-year-old African-American and white girls compared to results from previous NHANES studies.
...

Although there are few other sources of data to compare these new findings to, the authors state that white girls in their study appear to be developing six months to one year earlier than girls in earlier studies. There are no data available to determine whether African-American girls are developing breast and pubic hair earlier than in past years, although the data indicating earlier menarche suggest that this is likely.

We don’t know what causes the disparity between white and African-American girls. A number of previous studies in the US have noticed earlier development and larger pre-pubertal size of African-American girls compared to white girls. Several studies in the 1970s and 80s found African-American girls to be taller, heavier, and maturing earlier than white girls their age.

In addition to their differing size, another hypothesis about the racial discrepancy is that hair products used by African-Americans that contain estrogen or placenta may be increasing the prevalence of early puberty.
//

[MooksterL1]

I find it interesting that you are citing the overuse of hormones in our society today and yet are for giving them in pill form to children.

[ParkTwain]

You must think that all hormones that humans might directly or indirectly ingest are the same. Please check that out, I mean, for your own enlightenment.

[MooksterL1]

No, I don't believe I cited which hormones I was talking about. And I am still unsure what point you are attempting to make here. If you are saying that girls are having sex that young, then I definitely agree. But, this thread isn't about early puberty, it was specifically about birth control pills to middle age students.

On a side note, from your own article, "The long-term health risks of early puberty also deserve attention. It has already been demonstrated that girls who begin menstruating at a very young age have an increased risk of developing breast cancer as adults, so it is certainly possible that earlier onset of puberty may also put girls at greater risk of breast cancer. Since most girls who experience early signs of puberty do not necessarily have earlier menarche, further study is needed to determine whether they will have an increased breast cancer risk."

I would like to point out that the National Cancer Institute conducted a careful meta-analysis of data and concluded that the risk of breast cancer increases with prolonged use of the pill.