DENVER – Currently, high school students seeking contraceptives must go to an off-campus community health center to receive it. However, after reviewing a recommendation made by a task force studying clinics, six Denver high schools may begin handing out contraceptives on campus.
The teen birth rate in Denver is, at this time, more than twice the statewide rate of 24.3 births per 1,000 girls between the ages of 15 to 17.
If the recommendation is approved, six high schools in the district’s most impoverished areas will dispense the contraceptives. School clinics only offer STD and pregnancy testing in the area.
Opponents of the proposal argue that the easy accessibility of birth control would influence adolescents to have sex. Supporters believe that sexually active teens need as much access to contraceptives as possible.
So far, school and health officials said that parents have not had a strong reaction to the proposal. In an informal survey sent to 180 parents through E-mail, 70 percent said they were fine with contraceptives in schools as long as parents gave permission.
If the proposal goes through, officials must determine whether parental consent will be necessary in passing out birth control. As it stands, at off-campus clinics, minors can obtain birth control without the approval of their parents.
