MORNING-AFTER PILL IN SCHOOLS A SAD COMMENTARY ON OUR CULTURE
Parents, Not Schools, Should Navigate Moral Waters

(Washington, D.C.) — The Independent Women's Forum is opposed to recent reports from the New York City Department of Education that 13 public high schools will provide girls as young as 14 with the morning-after pill, without parental consent, through the city's CATCH pilot program. 

Hadley Heath, senior policy analyst specializing in health care at the Independent Women's Forum, issued the following statement:

"The decision to offer the "morning-after" pill to high school students is a sad commentary on our culture.  Have we given up on encouraging students to make prudent choices in their sexual lives?  

"Of course the point is to reduce the number of unexpected pregnancies, but we shouldn't pretend that pregnancy is the only result of sex.  Aren't we de-valuing sexual intimacy by giving students the impression that their decisions come with an "undo" button? 

"A policy like this one comes with health-related, emotional, and cultural consequences.  This should open a serious discussion about teen promiscuity and the limited role that schools should play in navigating those moral waters.  Parents should take back their role in sexual education, which should start in the home.  

"And of course the ultimate irony is that in New York City, students can't buy large sodas, but they can get Plan B at school.  The only common thread here is that the government is the arbiter of health, and no personal responsibility is expected of individuals in their choices about food, sex, or education."

Independent Women's Forum is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3) research and educational institution dedicated to expanding the conservative coalition, both by increasing the number of women who understand and value the benefits of limited government, personal liberty, and free markets, and by countering those who seek to ever expand government in the name of protecting women.

###