IN THEORY:

A school board in Maine last week decided to let King Middle School students get birth control at their student health center. The move provoked an outcry from some who cited religious and health reasons for their opposition. Principal Michael McCarthy defended the decision. “I think it makes people nervous to think middle school students are having sex. Frankly, it makes me nervous. But there’s a small population out there that needs protection,” he said. What do you think of the school board’s decision?

I have a lot of mixed feelings regarding this decision. But I’m sure that the principal is doing what he thinks is best for the kids. I taught this age group for 13 years and I know the challenges they face. Being halfway between adolescence and young adult hood is pivotal and while I would like to rely upon parents to educate their kids I know some don’t. But sex is a topic that requires honesty, respect, values, and maturity. I trust the school board and the principal have set the guidelines for the program and are doing their best to serve the interests of the children and the parents. Taking a stand for this program is not a matter of who’s right or wrong, it is a matter of what protects and serves our kids. Kids need responsible adults to model mature behavior that allows them to feel safe and well informed so they too can become responsible and mature adults. And so the cycle goes!

Pastor Jim Turrell

Center For Spiritual Discovery

Costa Mesa

The postmodern age of the 21st century recognizes sex for purposes other than procreation and does not limit it to married couples. It is rare for someone not to have a sexual encounter for the first time at or before the marriage.

The only question is at what age is sex appropriate. When it happens, most would agree, you would want the individual to be aware of all the information available and have birth control.

We are not talking about love here when minors are involved. We are talking about preventing pregnancy for minors.

All these factors then create a liberal approach to contraception on the part of many non-Orthodox Jewish teenagers and most liberal rabbis and adult Jews. The Talmud, Jewish Code of Law, divides using birth control into three categories — those of a minor at least age 11, a Jewish woman and a category where the female may be pregnant, nursing or ovulating.

For the modern ruling, Rabbi Meir says a minor can be as young as 11 when she first practices sex. It states, “One who is 11 and carries sexual intercourse in the usual manner is subject to use all the birth control devices that a woman at another older age would use.”

It is my obligation to remind all others of the rabbinical way in our tradition and to educate children of what is available to them and the consequences of engaging in sexual acts.

One thing is for sure, not passing such a decision to allow birth control in the school system will only ignore sexual mores and traditions practiced by youths at an alarming level, and thus create even more complex problems such as unwanted pregnancies and abortions. This is a greater problem than giving out much-needed sexual information.

Rabbi Marc Rubenstein

Temple Isaiah of Newport Beach

Within the Latter-day Saint community, there is a strong emphasis on the family unit.

When a middle school renders advice and prescribes medication because a few girls as young as 11 are “sexually active,” the proposed solution is a bandage to the real problem: the demise of family as a societal unit and the decline in the community’s moral and spiritual values.

Parents have a sacred stewardship over their children to teach them right from wrong, how to make good decisions and the consequences of inappropriate decisions.

Government should not interfere with that parent-child relationship. Instead, a greater emphasis should be placed on schools to promote an improved rapport between children and parents instead of encouraging children to seek guidance elsewhere.

Unfortunately, this school-district action is even greater inducement for parents to further abdicate their responsibilities to be close to, teach and mentor their children.

Sometimes, the quick solution to a problem, may be a long-range detriment to the future of our society as a whole.

Tom Thorkelson

Director Of Interfaith Relations For Orange County

The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints

Mother nature made it so that youngsters in middle school age have urges to have sex. Somehow most parents don’t like to think of their children having sex.

And so, many don’t even talk about sex or will simply stress that it is wrong.

Clearly there will always be a few who will engage in sex regardless of what their parents did or did not tell them.

In our current society and in this overpopulated world it is a tragedy for a girl of middle-school age to have a child, so it makes sense to make birth control items available if the parents OK the use of the school’s health center.

Otherwise a few young girls’ futures could be radically and needlessly changed for the worse.

Jerry Parks

Member

Humanist Assn. of Orange County