Students at 13 New York City high schools were given the morning after pill and other forms of birth control without their parents being informed. The school nurse can given students oral or inject-able contraceptives along with ‘Plan B’ without parental consent unless parents opt of the of program. CATCH, Connecting Adolescents To Comprehensive Health, has teamed up with the schools to prevent teen pregnancies that ultimately lead to more students dropping out of school and never receiving the proper education needed for a good job. Many think the program is a good idea so those who wanted to have sex young are at least using protection while others believe it will encourage more youth to have sex before they are ready condoms and Plan B are more readily available so they will never know the seriousness of having sex. Read more below.
While Big Apple high schools have long supplied free condoms to sexually active teens, this is the first time city schools have dispensed hormonal birth control and Plan B, which can prevent pregnancy if taken up to 72 hours after unprotected sex.It might be a nationwide first as well. The National Association of School Nurses could cite no other school district supplying Plan B. So far, during an unpublicized pilot program in five city schools last year, 567 students received Plan B tablets and 580 students received Reclipsen birth-control pills, the city Department of Health told The Post. This fall, students can also get Depo-Provera, a birth-control drug injected once every three months, officials said.
The city expanded CATCH to 14 schools with more than 22,000 students over the past year. Officials dropped one, Seward Park Campus in lower Manhattan, because CATCH was overwhelming the medical office.Parents at the 14 schools were sent letters informing them about CATCH. Parents may bar their kids from getting pregnancy tests or contraceptives if they sign and return an opt-out statement.If they do not, schools can confidentially give the contraception without permission. An average 1 to 2 percent of parents at each school have returned the opt-out sheets, said DOH spokeswoman Alexandra Waldhorn.
