Many of you are familiar with the story of the middle school in Portland, Maine, that will (at some future date) prescribe contraceptives to girls that request it from the on-campus clinic.
On Monday, the American Center for Law & Justice, a law firm founded by Pat Robertson to champion conservative causes, announced that it will bring a lawsuit against the Portland School Board if it does not rescind its decision. From the Portland Press Herald:
A conservative law firm founded by televangelist Pat Robertson is threatening to sue the Portland School Committee about a plan to make prescription contraceptives available to middle school students.
The American Center for Law & Justice is demanding that the School Committee drop its support for a plan to give students who use the health center at King Middle School access to birth control.
The legal group said that at the very least the committee must ensure that only students ages 14 and up have access, and only with written permission from their parents.
Make the jump
The comments section to this article are of particular interest, lacking much of the vitriol attached to earlier stories, which leads me to believe that as more people learn the facts surrounding the School Board's decision, there is more understanding of the issue. Also tto note is how Mainers feel about intervention by people "from away."
Bill Nemitz, a commentator for the paper, has a great piece regarding this entire controversery in today's issue:
But assuming it goes forward, this case will be about a lot more than a local school policy.
The moment they enter the courtroom, the judge and the litigants will find themselves careening among several state statutes on the touchy issues of minors and contraceptives and what physicians can and cannot do when neither mom nor dad is in the examining room.
And he goes on to explain the different laws that affect the health care of minors and their right to privacy, as well as how and when parental notification can occur.
Knowing the facts is the only way to combat the O'Reilly's out there that will try to use this story as a cudgel with which to attack progressives.
It should also be noted that the one School Board member up for election that voted against the school's new policy, Ben Meiklejohn, lost his bid for re-election yesterday.