From: ser@netcom.com (Steve Rubin)
Newsgroups: misc.kids,alt.kids-talk,alt.parents-teens,misc.education
Subject: Re: Minors right of access to contraceptives?
Date: 15 Apr 92 16:45:29 GMT
Article-I.D.: netcom.#!zjvsl.ser
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest)

In article <1992Apr15.001140.27946@leland.Stanford.EDU> shedevil@leland.Stanford.EDU (Paula Abdul Jabbar) writes:
>I'd really like to hear more from the teens who read this board.  I have
>recently come to the stunning realization that those for and against
>"education" and "access" are fighting a fairly useless battle..at least
>based on what I've seen in the Palo Alto school system [and let me tell you
>that the education here is quite possibly on the over-kill end, the kids
>have been having "health" ed, always including sex, stds and
>contraception, since 6th grade on a yearly basis, and it goes on ad
>infinitum through high school].
>

You wanted to here from teens, so...

Alot of it is just plains stupidity.. No, I didnt say that :).  Acually,
the problem is the kids that they force to take the classes never pay
attention.  For example: My best friend thought withdrawl was a good form
of birthcontrol, until I yelled at him   :).  (Luckly, she didnt get pregnant)




>According to my daughter (8th grade), while we were talking about a
>classmate of her's who thought she (the classmate) was pregnant,
>"nobody" uses condoms or any other protection, even though they have all
>had the education, and all have ready access.  Why?  Simple...it is near
>impossible to conceive <no pun intended> that IT [any "it"] can happen
>to me/us.  Teens today are no different then we were as teens in that
>regard, why do we think that just because the consequences can be more
>severe (i.e. AIDS) that it will be any more *real* to today's teens?
>
>And that's not all...when I asked my daughter what her classmate would
>do, she said "oh, the usual...get an illegal abortion done by some
>friend of so-and-so's."  WHAT???  I was horrified.  According to my
>daughter there is just no way these kids are going to go to a clinic,
>even if it IS anonymous.  Let's get real folks!...remember how WE felt
>about "the establishment" at that age??
>
>As an aside, on a different note, I think that there are some types of
>education which are NOT appropriate, and where the "education doesn't
>lead to activity" argument breaks down.  For example, my daughter
>brought home one of her health exams last year (7th grade), and one of
>the questions was "Which spot on a woman's genitals is the most
>sensitive?"  Now, I don't know about you, but to me this borders pretty
>darn close on teaching "technique" [or mechanics, if you will], and I
>think that given the fact that schools are in no way allowed to
>"moralize", that it was entirely inappropriate.
>
>
>
>
>-- 
>    LOOKING FOR: Michael Hobson, Alex Craven, David Runyon, & Lorna Taylor
>I am: Anne Mitchell, mom, law student, shedevil@leland.stanford.edu or @vix.com
>     	  founder of FREE, the Fathers Rights and Equality Exchange.
> The fathers' rights paper & FREE files available via ftp: gw.home.vix.com;/pub


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