'Plan B Has Become Plan A' in New York Schools

High school clinics gave out 12,721 doses last year - 318 per school

"Plan B has become Plan A in the Bloomberg administration's stealth war on teen pregnancy," warns the NY Post in a dramatic lede.

The city is funding a project that entails school-based health centers offering girls a "menu" with a full range of free contraceptives, including the so-called morning after pill. In 2011-12, forty school clinics gave out 12,721 doses of Plan B. That's 318 doses per school in a single year, and that figure has more than doubled since 2009-10.

Last year the school clinics also gave out almost twice as many prescriptions for long-term contraception as in 2009-10, including IUDs and contraceptive pills. According to New York law, minors don't need parental consent to receive contraception, and students with no insurance get birth control free of charge.

Some parents are horrified that emergency contraception is being made so freely available to teens. But other data tells more positive story concerning contraceptives in city schools.

Teen pregnancies in the city have dropped 27% in the last ten years. That's a result of fewer teens having sex, but also because of increased contraceptive use, according to a study from the NYC Health Department. And that increased contraceptive use includes Plan B, made available through schools, reports the New York Daily News.

Via the New York Post and the NY Daily News.

Are you OK with high schoolers having ready access to Plan B?

[twinertia]

I'm ABSOLUTELY on board with Plan "B" in every school worldwide. Oh, but listen as the theocrats belabor their hidebound revenge fantasies as women take control of their lives!

[jessejaymes]

Absolutely. It's the ONLY solution to world wide over population. I'd give them out free to anyone that wanted them.

[marine1]

@jessejaymes There should NEVER be a time that goverment allows children to avoid parental oversight and controll .

[jessejaymes]

@marine1 I disagree. And the number of teen births says teens are avoiding parental oversight and control already. Kids are going to have sex. Always have, always will.

[marine1]

@jessejaymes sometimes we just follow different paths, thats life.

[bsking]

Really so you wouldn't mind if your 16 year old girls getting banged by the football team as long as she can go to the vending machine right ?

[DARSB]

Rational, apparently effective. I wonder how many abortions have been precluded with this program?

On a side note, there's a college in Pennsylvania that has Plan B vending machines.$25 a pop.

[stepped_in_it]

Failure to spend $1 on a condom will cost you $25. Failure to spend $25 will cost you, the father and possible the US taxpayer upwards to $100,000 spread out over 18+ years!

[dances-weebles]

@stepped_in_it
http://www.wisegeek.org/how-much-does-it-cost...

It can be very expensive to raise a child in the United States. For example, according to one online calculator, it costs almost $200,000 US Dollars (USD) to raise a child from birth to age 18. Other sources estimate the cost at $250,000 USD or more. For parents who put their kids through college, tuition can add as much as $10,000 USD or more to that estimate.

bear in mind, this is for one kid... do you have two, three or four? you don't get any discounts for the higher numbers, you know.

[stepped_in_it]

@dances-weebles thanks for the info.....have no kids so it was just a guess. Of course, If i did have kids, I'd work them to (almost) death to pay some of the costs (kidding...ok)

[dances-weebles]

@stepped_in_it you made it a joke, but my older daughter realised early on that if she ever wanted to be able to get into a top level university she'd have to work herself almost to death throughout her school career. all through school from k-12 she studied. by the time she was in jr. high school she would come home on the afternoon and close herself in her room and begin studying, only to come out for supper or if she had questions. as a result she received top grades on her sat exams, and was invited to study at the university of chicago, one of the top academic schools in the u.s, on scholarships and grants. she is now a tenured professor at marquette.

[stepped_in_it]

@dances-weebles And....YOU...are....a....proud .....father (a rightfully so). Don't know if I should congratulate you, your daughter or both....so I'll chose both! Great job!

[NTBFW]

We might as well have post term abortions.

[martydotcom]

I wonder what half wit authored this article. I'm sure you agree with his. conclusion. Say hallelujah praise The Lord no post term abortion
"Teen pregnancies in the city have dropped 27% in the last ten years. That's a result of fewer teens having sex..." Want to buy a bridge in Brooklyn?

[Dan_Tien]

@martydotcom "...but also because of increased contraceptive use, according to a study from the NYC Health Department." Want to finish reading the article?

[stepped_in_it]

Pro-lifers are gonna have a baby (sic). Pro-lifers, you can't have it both ways. Either birth control is handed out to prevent pregnancies or there will be more abortions! I choose birth control......it's just a wee bit cheaper (and has far less mental issues).
OK, my back is against the wall and the blind fold is in place.....ready....aim...fire!

[chanelrossi]

I'm all for preventing teen pregnancies, but I don't think they should be using it as a main form of birth control. It's supposed to be emergency. I don't think it should be used regularly instead of actual birth control.

[Center]

They are not using it that way. They said the most used one was long term contraception and plan b is a short term in case of emergency

[No_Bama]

I have no problem with plan B or any other birth control being readily handed out. I do however take issue with the that takes parents permission out of the equasion. If my daughter is running around having sex like a little trollop, then I most cer5tainlt need and deserve to be notifiied post haste.

[cpeter133]

Which means fewer kids will apply for it at school, which means you get to deal with more teen pregnancies, which defeats the whole purpose of the program. Do you kow how many parents would punish the child with violence or even expulsion from the home? Especially parents who would call their daughters "trollops"?

[texas_cutie75]

@cpeter133

You can NOT take parents out of this equation. PERIOD!!

[DARSB]

@texas_cutie75 Let's try a thought experiment.

A student in a New York state high school is the daughter of Shia Muslim parents who, before emigrating to the US, accepted honor killings as a normal part of society. This young Muslim girl, not sharing her parents' strict beliefs, behaves like the other girls in her school and loses her virginity to a classmate. She is now afraid she may be pregnant with the Christian boy's baby.

Today she has a choice to tell her parents and risk being murdered by her father for asking the school for Plan B.

Without that shield of confidentiality, she has no good choices and her life may be snuffed out to uphold her father's or her brothers' notions of "honor."

Still want to tell the parents?

[texas_cutie75]

@DARSB

You are trying to make me sound heartless, and this pisses me off to no end but here we go. You should not be able to dispense birth control to teens without parental consent. Due to one child,, you want to grant access to a medical device to teens without parental consent. There are side effects, sometimes lifelong side effects of birth control. No, I'm sorry, I fail to agree with you.

[DARSB]

@texas_cutie75 Sorry you're pissed off, that was not my intention.

[texas_cutie75]

Where in the heck (opted for less vulgar word) are the parents? If my child had access to this, they had best have a release form with my dang name in it!!

[dances-weebles]

not really... if they had to ask you for permission it wouldn't stop them at all from having sex, but it would stop them from taking advantage of the programme... think about it.

[texas_cutie75]

@dances-weebles
This is too much. If these girls are getting free contraceptives, they still need medical exams for STD's. The parents need to know.

[Zazziness]

@texas_cutie75 Then you better make sure you have established trust with your teenagers and that they feel safe discussing the issue with you so they tell you about it voluntarily. Forcing the school to tattle-tale defeats the benefits of the program.

[texas_cutie75]

@Zazziness You're kidding me right? I raised two goddaughters sans teen pregnancies. We fully discussed birth control when they started getting interested in boys. We made the decision to put them on the birth control I approved of when we as a family deemed it time. By the way I am an RN\BSN. Does no one realize you are granting unlimited access to hormones that could cause lifelong health issues to teenagers!

[Zazziness]

@texas_cutie75 I realize that a pregnancy at age 13 is also something that is going to affect a girl lifelong.

[thatgirl]

Hmmmm......one can only wonder what abstinence-only based classes have had to do with this.

[martydotcom]

Reality vs wishful thinking ?

[DARSB]

New York state hasn't promoted abstinence-only since at least 2007.

[thatgirl]

@DARSB One wonders if they are including abstinence curriculum of any sort these days.

[DARSB]

@thatgirl There are some isolated programs, I gather, but when pregnancy rates began to climb and STDs started to get out of control most school boards dropped it. It's like the DARE programs, sounds good in theory.

[thatgirl]

@DARSB I know they are still teaching it in some counties in FL, we lived there while our daughter was in HS. I was horrified, it was propaganda of the worst sort, I had to threaten to sue the school system to get my kid out of the class.

[harold_lloyd]

Think of it as preventing 12,721 abortions.

[wonka45ACP]

parents horrified,, why? someone is doing their job!! when they should be mortified
because others are trying to teach them what parents should..

[mudpike]

No. It just shows that our Gov't . & sadly many people find it more 'conveniant' to simply kill babies than to either work for a solution or accept personal responsibility for their actions.
It's not a one way way street, women should have to report the name of the breeder (notice, I didn't use the word father) who impregnated her , if known. If not , no benefits . In the same breath, these impregnators (notice, I did not use the word men) should have wages attached . Don't have a job (surprise), put out a wanted warrant on them & when caught - send them to a work farm where they labor & or become trained to perform duties to pay for the children they helped create . It's not the taxpayer's duty to support other's children or pay for the murder of what the liberals & BO call a mistake . Force them to work & stop the 'Baby Daddy' mentality.

[Jet_Silverman]

They are talking about "Plan B". which has nothing to do with killing babies. In fact, it won't work if you are pregnant. Personally, I think a man shouldn't have any rights or responsibilities WRT a child he sires unless he is married to the mother.

[SignifiedNBlue]

Abstinence, isnt successfully taught. Contreceptives are. Reality v fantasy

[DARSB]

Reality Check - Plan B is contraception, not an abortifacient.

[tomincali]

heck i support spaying all who cannot afford to pay their way like adults when they become adult enough to support a family they can pay the reversal.

[DARSB]

Well, that's a remarkably vile comment. Proud of that, are you?

[harold_lloyd]

"liberals love to kill babies"

...a good example of why Hillary outpolls teabaggers.

[AlexMIA]

It's NY! What do you expect? There's no sense of decency there! Besides, the government is your kids parents over there, not you! Didn't you know? They're your parents too! You voted for that!

[ConserveUSA]

The parents does not have any sense of decency.

[AlexMIA]

@ConserveUSA Was that a statement or a question? Doesn't matter, I will answer universally, they voted.

[ConserveUSA]

@AlexMIA Statement. Most of these kids parents does not care. Most not all...

[AlexMIA]

@ConserveUSA Of coarse they don't, most are parented by the same government. The way you vote is a reflection of ones principles and values.

[scotta]

I feel about plan B the same way I feel about abortions. It is murder. But I am not a woman so I don't count on oppions on this subjects

[ashgreen]

You do realize that Plan B does not terminate an existing pregnancy right? It basically works just like any other contraceptive pill. So are the millions of women on oral contraceptives also murderers? Perhaps you should do some research on the drug before you go comparing it to murder.

[scotta]

@ashgreen it is called the morning after abortion pill. Sorry of I confused all the TV, and locallnewsss aerosolization

[ashgreen]

@scotta It's called the "morning after" pill, not the "morning after abortion" pill. I think you're confused. It won't abort an already fertilized egg--anything that powerful would require a prescription.

[scotta]

@ashgreen OK I had not heard of this pill the morning after pill I read about was the abortion one. I apology for the mix up

[ConserveUSA]

This is a disgrace in education. Promoting Inappropriate behavior. Abstinence is the only way!!!

[AlexMIA]

No, abstinence is boring! Promoting personal responsabilty and strengthening the family bond on the other hand is reasonable. The problem with the left is that they are all backwards, always too high on the Starbucks! They fail to realize that a minors constitutional rights are limited and extended to the parents while completely undermining constitutional rights for grown ups when they shouldn't.

[BelinKS]

We all know teens are going to do what they want to despite what we teach them. Anything that reduces teen pregnancies and as a result, abortions is a good thing. As a woman who got pregnant very young, having the morning after pill available to me would have changed my life. Instead I went to school pregnant and just had to ignore the whispers. I was well supported by friends and others. After giving her up for adoption, I can't even count the times I had to explain my decision to others. I made that decision for her, no matter how badly it hurt me to do so. I think this plan should be in all states! I know the parents that would complain that this is giving teens permission to have sex. NEWS FLASH they're having sex anyway. I do not think this plan would increase the number of teens having sex! Those that have chosen not to are not going to think, well since this is available I'll go ahead and start having sex. Those decisions are already made with or without this bill.

[AlexMIA]

I don't think parents are upset because they think the school is promoting sex, or even think that at all. I think people (parents) are getting mad because the government is circumventing their right and responsabilty to be parents, and rightfully so. Parents and their children alone should be able to talk these things out and be fully supportive of each other. How would you feel if you had a daughter who got pregnant and her school helped her deal or abort without you ever even finding out? What if you found out only after there was a bad medical side effect?

[BelinKS]

@AlexMIA
The morning after pill is not an abortion. This plan does not include abortions, but would as a side effect reduce the number of abortions. There are parents that teach abstinence only, just like mine did. I am from the south. There are too many parents with their heads in the sand or their rosé colored glasses on. As you saw on my post, I have personal experience with being a young pregnant teen. I would not even consider an abortion. It wasn't the child's fault that I decided to have sex before I was ready. So I took the consequences. Had someone been able to hand me a morning after pill, things would have been much different. Of course, the morning after pill did not exist back then. A lot of parents in the south are not progressive enough! These teens that choose to have sex no matter what their parents taught them need a helping hand that is refused by their parents. Teen pregnancy has been a problem for a long time! This bill could help. Of course it is not going to stop the girls that get pregnant on purpose. They are a whole different ball game. They need mental help, but nobody usually knows what they have planned to do. Especially not the boy or her parents. Boys need to protect themselves from girls like these by always wearing a condom that has spermacide. The boy will never know which girl would do that to them on purpose. I did not do it on purpose and the father was in his early twenties. I was a tenth grader. I didn't want my father to pursue statutory rape charges against him for two reasons. I knew what I was doing was wrong and I didn't want him having anything to do with the baby. I had figured out what a liar he was. When he said I guess we should get married now, I said no and broke up with him. He had gone to another town to take the ASFAB to join the army. A guy friend of mine was with that group that was bussed there and put up in a hotel. When they got back, my friend told me that my boyfriend had slept with a girl/women(they were the same age)he met on that little trip. After I broke up with him, it turned out that he had knocked her up too. Hind sight is 20/20 though. He should have been charged with statutory rape. I was young and vunerable and this man took advantage and seduced me with the thought of love. He was a liar! They both joined the ARMY and got married. When it came time for him to sign away his rights for the adoption, he was forced to. My dad, a former officer pilot in the army during the last part of fighting in the Korean War contacted the highest ranking officer at the fathers base. They did not take kindly that he left an underage girl pregnant and ran off in the ARMY. That official made him sign the papers, then dishonerably discharged both of them. I would not sign until he had. No way had I gone through all that for a sleaze ball to have my daughter. I chose her parents through private adoption and my dad had a private investigator check them out. They were every thing they claimed to be. I tell you this long story so that maybe someone else will benefit from it. I do not want another girl to go through all that I did. I have a seven year old daughter of my own now. Sex will always be an open issue! Sure I will tell her that I prefer for her not to have sex, but if she chooses otherwise the door is open and she can openly discuss everything with me. My son is much older. I had him young, but not young to the point where his father and I could not take care of him. We got married straight out of high school. I kept those doors open with him. He's 22 in college, no kids and no VD's. He did not choose abstinence, but did choose protection. I am still proud of him! I'm 41 now. I love having my seven year old daughter!

[AlexMIA]

@BelinKS So, with your final closing in your comment, you still believe the government has the right to parent for you? As a matter of fact considering your whole statement, it seems to me your parents did a pretty good job of supporting you through your situation, considering there was no plan b back then. Don't get me wrong, I am not against abortion or plan b. I'm not even for abstinance, many teens will be teens. I'm just against the government being the first line of parenting. It is very arrogant and wrong for them to do that! As a women you should also be well aware of the side effects and adverse reactions plan b and birth control pills have, unless you don't know how to read or haven't read them! That is something that should be prescribed by a family doctor with the parents knowledge. A girl rebelious or free enough to have sex at an early age is also strong enough to deal with her parents. That whole he tricked and seduced me is crap, take some responsability. Nice job ruining two peoples carriers because your lack of it. Hind site is 20/20, perhaps you could have had fun with someone more your age. ;)

[AlexMIA]

@BelinKS Contraception and personal responsability, yes! Government infringement and interloping, no!

[BelinKS]

@AlexMIA
I did take complete responsibility. I am the one that had to go to high school pregnant. I am the one who went through labor and delivery by myself. No my conservative Christian parents did not support me emotionally through that. My dad made that move with the private detective because he wanted to be sure they were the conservative Christians he wanted. I just benefitted because that made me able to find out this couple wasn't lying to me. I am the one that had to make the heart wrenching decision to put her up for adoption. I am the one that had to hand my daughter to a nurse and leave, never to see her again. When I told my parents I was pregnant, they put me in a youth home for a while and eventually let me come back home. Once back home, I was only allowed to go to school and go back home. Nothing else. Not even watch TV. The only reason the baby's father was forced in that way was because he refused to cooperate. It was not our decision for him to get kicked out. That was the ARMY. You act like I did something to him. When I was older and had a teenager of my own was when I realized how bad what that man did to me was. He did break the law. It was statutory rape. A tenth grader is not that mature, he was and he knew better. He kept telling me he loved me to get what he wanted. He was lying. When you were in your twenties were you having sex with a tenth grader? If you were, were you lying to her all the time? If you had gotten her pregnant would you have taken responsibility or ran? Parents like mine are the reason these kids need help. These kids are immature and playing in an adult world by having sex. If parents would do their part a program like this would not be needed. These kids see the people they want to be like on TV or in the movies having sex. There are many that follow that lead. It's easy for you to say that's the parents job. There are too many parents that don't! There lies the problem!

[Avaholic90]

One of the few things im up in the air on. on one hand there are fewer teen pregnancies but on the other the kids shouldn't have that much access to that cuz i believe it promotes kids under the age of 18 to have sex. condoms and other things like that don't always work.