Should Planned Parenthood be allowed in schools?

Planned Parenthood has teamed up with the Los Angeles Unified School District to run a clinic at a public high school, offering students free and confidential birth control, counseling, pregnancy tests, and screening for sexually transmitted diseases. The program at Roosevelt High School — the first of its kind — was designed to help cut the school's unusually high teen pregnancy rates. Legally, teens don't need parental permission to visit the clinic, a fact that incenses some parents, who have pounced on the decision to let Planned Parenthood, a frequent target of anti-abortion activists, on campus. Is Los Angeles unwisely inviting a culture war battle in its schools, or is this something other states should consider, too?

Let's hope this idea catches on: This "sounds like a completely reasonable solution to a very real problem," says Cassie Murdoch at Jezebel. The school is in a heavily Latino, low-income area that has been one of L.A.'s "hotspots for teen pregnancies," and a program that offered reproductive health care in conjunction with a local hospital ended in 2006. Having Planned Parenthood fill the gap "seems like a natural pairing" that other schools in need could mimic.

"Planned Parenthood partners with L.A. school to reduce teen pregnancies"

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

This is a recipe for disaster: Planned Parenthood is the nation's largest provider of abortions, says Bryan Kemper at LifeNews. It's mind-boggling that they could be allowed to set up "inside the walls of a public high school." Los Angeles is sidestepping parents and giving Planned Parenthood "front-row access" to their kids so it can peddle its deadly cycle: "Sex, condoms, abortion," repeat. Moms and dads everywhere should be outraged.

"Stop Planned Parenthood from setting up shop in public schools"

You can't argue with success: The school was in a crisis after its old reproductive health program ended, says Amanda Peterson Beadle at Think Progress. The school nurse asked for Planned Parenthood's help after seeing 32 positive pregnancy tests in one three-month period in 2008. Nationally, the teen pregnancy rate has dropped to its lowest level in 40 years, and researchers credit better contraception use by teenagers. Agree with it or not, giving students information and contraception undeniably works.

"Los Angeles high school partners with Planned Parenthood to offer access to contraception"