Kids can’t obtain soda or candy on Seattle school grounds, even with parental approval. But birth control devices are a different matter, as it has just been revealed that the city’s schools are giving IUDs to girls as young as 11.
Without parental consent.
Writes CNS News:
The state and federally funded contraceptive services are made possible by Take Charge, a Washington State Medicaid program which provides free birth control to adults who are uninsured, lack contraceptive coverage, have an income at or below 260 percent of the Federal Poverty Level — or, in this case, to teens who don’t want their parents to know they’re on birth control.
In an email exchange with the Washington State Health Care Authority and CNSNews.com, a Take Charge spokesperson acknowledged that underage students are eligible for a “full array of covered family planning services” at school-based clinics if their parents meet the program’s requirements.
Take Charge added that “a student who does not want their parents to know they are seeking reproductive health services is allowed to apply for Take Charge using their own income, and if they are insured under their parents’ plan, the insurance would not be billed.”
When asked if a sixth grader could get an IUD implanted without parental consent, Take Charge told CNSNews.com: “We encourage all Take Charge providers to offer long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) in their clinics. A young person does not need parental consent to obtain a LARC or any other contraceptive method…If the young person is not choosing abstinence, she would be able to select a LARC and have it inserted without parental consent.”
Of course, since young students have little or no earnings, allowing them to apply for free IUDs “using their own income” means that every youth will qualify.
Not surprisingly, many are outraged. Town Hall’s Leah Barkoukis expressed these common sentiments, writing:
Just so we’re clear: Chocolate and sugar? Way too unhealthy. Sex and contraceptives? Totally fine. And since Washington’s law states that “every individual has the fundamental right of privacy with respect to personal reproductive decisions,” there’s nothing parents can do about it.
Homeschooling is looking better and better, isn’t it?
The outrageousness is further illustrated when considering that a minor cannot generally even obtain an aspirin on school grounds without parental permission. Minors also may not use tobacco or alcohol, enter into contracts, vote, or legally do many other things at all. Moreover, as the Daily Mail tells us:
And it is not just the idea that their children are able to obtain contraception without their consent that may worry parents, as there are in fact a number of reported health risks connection [sic] with IUDs.
According to medical experts, IUDs can, in rare cases, cause a perforation in the uterus, which could lead to serious complications and, in some cases, internal bleeding.
LARCs have also been associated with a number of other side effects, such as pelvic infections, ovarian cysts and aggravated bleeding.
In addition, while IUDs prevent pregnancy most of the time, the fact that they facilitate promiscuity could only be expected to increase the chances teens will get sexually transmitted diseases. In fact, Dr. Edward Green, an authority on AIDS and former research scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health, warned in 2009 that even condoms have this effect. As he said at the time, responding to comments Pope Benedict XVI made on the matter, “The pope is correct … or put it a better way, the best evidence we have supports the pope’s comments.…’Condoms have been proven to not be effective at the ‘level of population.’”
Despite this, the Seattle program still has its defenders. Salon wrote favorably about it, and in a highly sympathetic article, Inquisitr wrote that one “teen explained how appreciative she was of the in-school clinic,” saying, “‘Cause like, I’m really independent, so I don’t really talk to my parents about any of it. So if I would’ve had to talk to my parents about the whole birth control thing, I probably wouldn’t [have it].’” While Inquisitr apparently thinks this is, like, a compelling argument, kids wanting to hide activities from their parents is nothing new. What is new is having large numbers of adults who — instead of recognizing their duty to be that voluntary “village” that helps raise children* and being parents’ eyes when the parents aren’t around — enable youthful mischief. Their actions very much smack of a drug pusher who turns a teen into a user and courier, saying “Here … here’s your fix — and we won’t tell your parents.”
*(Note: While the proverb “It takes a whole village to raise a child” was co-opted and misrepresented as implying government action by Hillary Clinton, it actually is of African origin.)
Yet as outrageous as this program is, it just reflects the mentality that has at times enabled underage young women to obtain abortions without parental consent. And why is this possible when even an aspirin is off limits? Contraception and abortion are sacrosanct because they’re part of our Great Sexual Heresy (hence the “contraception mandate”), which places carnal matters at the center of life. And those viewing sex as being the most consequential of things now consider anything promising sex without consequences as being the most fundamental of rights. Consequently, these new heretics, having practically deified carnal urges, seem to equate the denial of sexual pleasure to a child with the keeping of him from God: It’s something even a parent hasn’t the legitimate power to do.
Of course, at the end of the day, these heretics attack traditional mores because they don’t want anyone to spoil their “fun,” as they trade civilization for cheap thrills.
