Virginia Public Schools Treat the Birth Control Pill Like a Lethal Weapon

Sorted under reproductive rights on April 11, 2009

As part of a zero tolerance drug policy throughout public schools across the country, one teen girl in particular was suspended for two weeks from her Fairfax County, Virginia public school last month when she was caught taking her birth control pill during lunch.

School officials from the Fairfax County school said that they cannot take chances when it comes to any kind of pills because they are concerned about liability and safety. They also said that most people would not know the difference between a birth control pill or other types of pills, including Ritalin or Tylenol, which is a little hard to imagine. I mean, pretty much everyone, including the 98% or so of girls and women who will take the birth control pill during a time in their life as well as the men who are around these 98% of girls and women have seen the container in which the birth control pill resides. It is not your common Tylenol bottle.

The school made an urgent phone call to the teen’s mother to let her know that she was taking birth control and also that she was being suspended for two weeks because of it. Luckily her mother knew that she was taking birth control so while that was not a surprise, the punishment her daughter received for doing so was; she said that she she realizes her daughter broke a rule, but the punishment does not fit the crime.

During the teen’s two week suspension she had time to study the school’s handbook closely and discovered something downright frightening. If the girl had been caught high on LSD, heroin, or another illegal drug, she would have been suspended for five days. If she had brought a gun to school, then that would warrant a two week suspension; this teen received the same punishment for taking a birth control pill than she would have if she had brought a lethal weapon to school.

While I can kinda sorta see the need for a policy on drugs being brought to and taken on school property, as I too have had to go to school under that policy, the females who I went to school with opted to simply take their birth control pill in the restroom where no one could see that they were taking their daily pill. The Fairfax County, Virginia public school and most public schools in this country seriously need to revise their policies.

With the percentage of teen pregnancies in this country continually on the rise from year to year, I think public schools should be in favor of birth control; I also believe that the teaching of comprehensive sex education, including on how to protect yourself from both sexually transmitted infections and diseases as well as pregnancy, which would include a section on contraception. However, because society is and has been continuously going back and forth with anti-choice and abstinence-only education legislation, these people and organizations have succeeded in stigmatizing normal, responsible behavior, such as being on the pill.

The Fairfax School Board and Virginia’s state school board need to keep the best interest of their students, including their female students, in mind. Send the board members a letter telling them that taking birth control is no way a comparable crime to possessing a handgun or heroin on school grounds.



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  • There are many pros and cons of the birth control pill, so there is a lot to consider.
  • Jo
    Jesus Christ people! Would you let up? One, taking birth control pills is sooo NOT wrong. If a guy has the right to have condoms in his wallet 'just in case', what's so wrong with a girl taking necessary precautions? Two, I don't give a damn about the bloody side effects, her life- her choice, that's how kids learn. They make a mistake, and they don't go down the same road twice. To do that, you'd have to be one big dumbass. Three, hell, her MOM approves of it, doesn't that say ANYTHING? Jeez... The school is NOT her mom, it's not even some far off distant relative, this is personal, they don't have the goddamned right!
  • I think that birth control is important but if we give it to our children then we are telling them it is ok to sleep around with boys whenever they want. They need to not have it and understand the consequences that can occur if they do.
  • Sex education is important but it only helps to a certain extent. My personal opinion, stay away from premarital sex.
  • The girl should also consider the side effects of taking that pill.She is just a high school student so she needs to be careful with taking those pills.It is really important to have a sex education in schools. beside taking that pill they can using condoms and doing sex on the safe days.



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  • Yes, I wholeheartedly concur; there is a need for sex education in schools, especially considering there are a lot of people who will not receive the proper education at home, so they will need to know the basics of how to keep themselves and their partners safe; you make an excellent point for a need of sex education in schools with your bringing up of "safe days." There is no such thing as a safe day to have sex without protection and when we do not have sex education in schools, rumors like that one start up within teenagers who take these rumors as fact and then before you know it, we have a baby boom within teenagers.
  • The girl should also consider the side effects of taking that pill. She is just a high school student so she needs to be careful with taking those pills. Another thing is, there are some other alternatives like using condoms (for the guy) and doing sex on the safe days. It is really important to have a sex education in schools.
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