Question

To combat teen pregnancy, some schools are going beyond sex education courses and dispensing contraception to their students. Is it ethical for junior and senior high schools to dispense contraception? Why or why not? What alternatives could schools provide rather than dispensing contraception?

Answer 1

Teenage pregnancy is defined as pregnancy in young women under the age of 20. It is commonly due to the unprotected sex of teens, which in turn, can result in STIs “…such as Chlamydia, Herpes, or HIV” (“Relationships”). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that there were 305,388 babies born to young girls ages 15-19 years old in 2012 (“Teen Pregnancy”). Due to the high rates of teen pregnancy and the HIV infection, these issues have caused many communities, including, public high schools to take action in prevention efforts. The key component of school is to essentially provide equal access to a proper education for all people. However, public high schools have taken upon themselves to assist their students to not only get a formal education but also become educated about sex and the methods of safe sex in a classroom setting. Schools even take it a step farther by distributing contraceptives such as condoms and even birth control pills to their students. While schools have the legal responsibility to protect the well being of their students, including, providing sexual education programs, parents should have the right to direct the upbringing of their child and decide what is best for them regarding their health.

According to Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, sexual education programs in public schools was created to “…provide young people with complete, accurate, and age-appropriate sex education that helps them reduce their risk of HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and unintended pregnancy” (“Comprehensive”). States have required public high schools to add sexual education to their curriculum to help reduce sexual health risks among students. Guttmacher Institute notes that in most states, sex education programs must include information on: contraception, abstinence, importance of sex only within marriage, sexual orientation and, negative outcomes of teen sex (“Sex and HIV”). These concepts of sex education are taught to inform and aware students about the decisions that they make regarding sex, in addition to some programs, students have access to receive contraceptives in their nurse’s office. Spokeswoman Divya Mohan of the National Assembly of School-Based Health Care reports that, “about 1,300 U.S. public schools with adolescent students – less than 2 percent of the total – have health centers staffed by a doctor or nurse practitioner who can write prescriptions…about one in four of those provide condoms, other contraceptives, prescriptions or referrals” (“Birth Control”). Public schools have taken the initiative to decide what is best for their students by distributing contraceptives and adding sex education programs, while many parents are not being asked to consent to the programs nor contraceptives that are available to their child.

Parents have the right to decide if they want their child to be involved in a sexual education program. However, Guttmacher Institute , reports that, in the United States, only 3 states require the consent of parents to allow their children to participate in sex education programs (“Sex and HIV”). Thus, 47 out of 50 states make the decision optional for parents to decide whether their child can or cannot participate in the sexual education programs. Parent unawareness of required sexual education programs in schools is unjust. Dr. Douglas S. Diekem of University of Washington School of Medicine, agrees and argues that as parents, they have “the responsibility and authority to make medical decisions on behalf of their children” (“Parental”). Children (aged 12-17), are considered minors, where they do not have the mental nor legal capacity to make serious decisions, particularly regarding their health when they are not completely informed about the situation. Guttmacher Institute notes that, “States acknowledges that parents have a right to make conscious health care decisions on the behalf of their children… that before reaching [age 18], young people lack the experience and judgement to make fully informed decisions” (“Parental”). Therefore, the policies within States that does not ask for the consent of sex education programs or what’s included in some sex ed programs like condom distribution violates the right of parents to make conscious decisions regarding their child’s health.

However, many others believe that minors seeking contraceptives without the authorization of parents is best. Minors (aged 12-17) who are either sexually active, pregnant, or infected with a STD may be uncomfortable with discussing their sex lives. Adolescents specified the many different reasons on why they did not feel comfortable enough to discuss their sexual health issues to their parents (“Are Parents”). Advocates for Youth stated some of the reasons that includes: they were worried about their parents reactions, they were worried that their parents will think they have had sex or are going to have sex, embarrassment, and didn’t know how to bring the subject up (“Are Parents”). The inability of minors to talk to their parents openly about their sexual health will lead minors to not seek help at all, which in turn, will increase the unprotected sex of teens. Guttmacher Institute confirms that “many minors will not avail themselves of important services if they are forced to involve their parents” (“An Overview”). So, due to the uneasiness of the child with discussing their sex lives to their parents, nearly all states have permitted minors to make decisions about their own medical care and health (Boonstra & Nash 1). States permitting minors the right to contraceptives without the authorization of parents, will much likely encourage minors to seek methods of protection because their parents are not informed.

The debate of schools distributing contraceptives to minors, especially without the consent of the parents is an ethical issue. Manuel Velasquez, Charles J. Dirksen Professor of Business Ethics at the Santa Clara University, defines ethics as “standards of behavior that tell us how human beings ought to act in the many situations in which they find themselves-as friends, parents, children, citizens, business people, teachers, professionals, and so on” (“Ethical Decision Making”). The ethical issue is mainly due to public high schools taking action to include in their sexual education programs, contraceptives like birth control, that may not be morally accepted by parents. Essentially, the school has the responsibility to protect the well being of their students, however, the parents have the right to direct the upbringing of their children. Therefore, if the school distributes contraceptives and students are accepting contraceptives without the permission of the parent this causes an ethical dilemma. In which the dilemma is between whether the parent is obligated to give consent regarding their child’s health or if minors are responsible enough to make their own decisions.

The ethical frameworks that relates to the ethical dilemma of distributing contraceptives to minors are the common good approach and the rights approach. The Common Good approach considers all people as part of one community. We share “certain general conditions that are… equally to everyone’s advantage (Velasquez).” In order for the community to thrive, certain conditions need to be sustained and protected so that the welfare of all people in the community are stable. These certain conditions can include: affordable health care, a just legal system, and having good schools. In terms of the ethical issue, the public schools’ intentions are pure and good. They believe that educating their students and also providing the protection such as condoms, if they did decide to have sex is always available for them. They also believe that minors’ have the right to consent to their own medical and health care situations without necessarily the consent of the parent.

The Rights approach are rights that are morally “justified by moral standards that most people acknowledge, but which are not necessarily codified in law (Velasquez).” Some rights are be both positive and negative that are based on solely because we are humans. A negative right requires inaction while a positive right requires action. For example, we do not have the right to murder someone but we do have the right to life. In terms of the ethical issue, parents have the right to protect and make decisions for their child who is legally capable of doing so. Parents also have the right to direct the upbringing of their child. They have a right to decline contraceptives if they do not morally believe that that is the right decision for their child.

In conclusion, the importance of students being aware and making conscious decisions about their sexual health is important. Many teens are becoming pregnant and infected with STIs due to the lack of knowledge and access about contraceptives. Sex education was established to essentially educate student so that they can be able to make responsible decisions regarding sex and how to stay protected if they are already sexually active. Schools have taken the effort of providing the services of sex education and even distributing contraceptives for their students to reinforce safe sex. However, many states have decided that parents should not be involved with minors making decisions based on their sexual health. Parents should be aware and involved in the health of their child due to the fact that minors are not yet capable of making serious decisions. Therefore, the course of action needed is to contact and write letters to Congress that will inform and explain the importance of parental rights when it comes to making decisions based on their child’s health.