The Department of Education has expanded their “CATCH” Program (which involves giving birth control pills, Plan B and Depo-Provera to girls without parental consent) to 13 New York high schools. Parents can opt out of the program by FINDING a piece of paperwork allowing them to opt out, and signing it. The so-called information telling parents of this form has resulted in only a 1-2 percent response.
Prescriptions for the drugs are supplied by Health Department physicians. This can be obtained by seeing a school nurse, and taking a pregnancy test.
From the NY Post:
“We can’t give out a Tylenol without a doctor’ s order,” said a school staffer. “Why should we give out hormonal preparations with far more serious possible side effects, such as blood clots and hypertension?”
Last year, New York City boasted a 64% abortion rate among 7000 girls under 17 who got pregnant.
Watch and see if this program of giving out pills at high schools has any effect on the statistics.
Pharmer wonders who is the brainiac behind this new “CATCH-bugs” program, which is likely to boost the incidence of STDs in the area, now that girls will have less incentive to abstain or use barriers.
The following schools are listed by the NY Post as participating in the program to pass out birth control hormones to kids without parental consent. Adlai Stevenson and Grace Dodge in The Bronx; Boys and Girls, Clara Barton, W.H. Maxwell Career and Technical Education, Abraham Lincoln and Paul Robeson in Brooklyn; John Adams, Newcomers, Queens Vocational and Technical, and Voyagers in Queens; High School of Fasion Industries in Chelesa, and Port Richmond on Staten Island.
Seward Park Campus in lower Manhattan was dropped from the program because the school medical office couldn’t keep up with the business.