Middle School Birth Control Policy Provokes Conservative Legal Action
A conservative Christian legal group said Thursday it will proceed with a lawsuit against a Maine school district over its refusal to reconsider its birth control policy, which allows students as young as 11 to receive prescription contraceptives without parental knowledge or consent.
The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which specializes in constitutional law, contends that the Portland School Committee is not only usurping parental authority but also violating a Maine law by not reporting all illegal sexual activity involving children 13 years old or younger.
"This is an issue where the rights of parents must be protected," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the ACLJ, in a statement Thursday.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"This is not only bad public policy but a violation of state law that simply cannot be ignored. There is tremendous outrage and disgust over the Committee's usurpation of parental responsibility to protect the health and morality of their children," he added.
The D.C.-based group's announcement comes one day after the committee indicated during its regular meeting that it will not reconsider its policy offering prescription birth control to students at King Middle School.
At the Wednesday meeting, six people spoke against the policy and nine spoke in favor of it, the Portland Press Herald reported.
While the policy requires students to receive parental permission to be admitted to the school health clinic, any care students would receive, including being prescribed birth control, is confidential. King Middle School students are between the ages of 11 and 15.
The school committee approved the policy on Oct. 17 in a 5-2 vote.
The controversial policy has prompted Sen. Doug Smith (R-Maine) to submit a bill that would require parental consent before any school in the state could give prescription birth control to children 14 years old or younger. The bill will be considered in the 2008 session.
Smith said that if students can't go to the art museum without a permission slip from a parent, they shouldn't be getting prescription drugs without parental permission, according to the Associated Press.
Meanwhile, more than 40,000 Americans nationwide, including hundreds of Maine residents, have signed a petition urging school officials to change a policy they consider to be "flawed" and "dangerous," the ACLJ reported Thursday.
Earlier this week, the group sent a letter to the Maine district committee asking officials to modify the "deeply troubling" policy or be prepared to face a lawsuit.
"The failure of health center personnel to report all instances of sexual activity involving young children endangers the safety of those children and must be corrected. Moreover, the Committee's decision to offer prescription birth control to children as young as 11 years old tramples upon parental rights and has the effect of promoting illegal sexual activity," the letter states.
The ACLJ said the committee "is not only fostering criminal activity and child abuse, but is usurping parental authority and subjecting children to all kinds of health risks as well."
Sekulow said ACLJ attorneys are now reviewing all legal avenues available, and will make a decision soon on whether the suit will be brought in state or federal court.
"Unless school officials make an 11th hour concession, we will move forward and file a lawsuit within a matter of weeks to remove this policy," he said.
"We will be representing parents who have children in the middle school and are confident that our legal challenge will succeed."
