Why Should This Surprise Me?

I wrote yesterday about a Maine middle school (Portland's King Middle School) considering handing out birth control pills to girls as young as 11. Sure enough, the school committee approved the proposal by a 7-2 vote:

Five of the 134 students who visited King's health center during the 2006-07 school year reported having sexual intercourse, said Amanda Rowe, lead nurse in Portland's school health centers.

Committee member Sarah Thompson, also the mother of a King eighth-grader, supported the policy, even though it made her "uncomfortable."

"I know I've done my job as a parent," Thompson said. "(But there) may be a time when she doesn't feel comfortable coming to me... (and) not all these kids have a strong parental advocate at home."

Nothing like teaching our kids to find any way to avoid consequences other than actually abstaining from actions in the first place. So basically this school - and the state of Maine - is saying that it's okay for kids as young as 11 to have sex, as long as they use protection and the girl's on birth control.