LEWISTON – While birth control pills will become available for girls at one of Portland’s middle schools, Lewiston and Auburn middle schools don’t hand out contraceptives and don’t plan to start, principals said Thursday.

Auburn Middle School Principal Kathi Cutler said a school must respond to the needs of the community. At her school, “This has not been brought up as a need,” she said.

“We do not give out condoms. We do not give out contraceptives,” said Lewiston Middle School Principal Maureen Lachapelle.

Health centers at Lewiston and Auburn schools are run by St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center. If a need arises for a student to have birth control, “We have the nurse contact the parent,” Lachapelle said.

The same is true for schools in the region, including Oxford, Jay, Livermore, Rangeley and Kingfield.

Contraceptives are not dispensed to high or middle school students in SAD 17 in Paris, according to Ann Johnson of the school-based health care center. “The school board made it very clear that was not to happen” when the school health center was established, Johnson said Thursday.

According to Wednesday’s Portland School Committee 7-2 vote, Portland’s King Middle School students need parental permission to access the school health center. But treatment is confidential under state law, which allows the students to decide whether to inform their parents about services they receive.

The plan, offered by city health officials and approved by the School Committee, makes King the first middle school in Maine to make a full range of contraceptives available to students in grades six to eight. The school has given out condoms for several years.

There are no national figures on how many middle schools, where most students range in age from 11 to 13, provide such services. “It’s very rare that middle schools do this,” said Divya Mohan, a spokeswoman for the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care.

The Portland decision made national news Thursday, prompting some to defend the decision, others to raise eyebrows or express shock.

Bishop outraged

Maine’s Catholic Bishop Richard Malone blasted the vote.

“I join the number of parents who have expressed their outrage and disbelief at this decision, which affects young girls aged 11 to 14 years old,” Malone said Thursday in a statement.

Malone called the School Committee’s decision flawed.

“It communicates to young people that adults have given up on forming young people in virtues like chastity,” Malone said. “As people who care about children, we need to help them understand the importance of postponing sexual activity until marriage” for their overall health.

Wednesday’s vote presumes the government must replace parents without the parents’ knowledge, Malone said. “One can reasonably assume that this decision will inevitably lead to more sexual experimentation among younger and younger children.”

The bishop urged parents to make their opposition known to the Portland School Committee, and called on the committee to rescind its decision.

Lewiston Middle School nurse Marjorie Brouillette said she doesn’t agree with giving students contraceptives without parental involvement, saying middle school students are too young. If a student came to her asking for them, she would contact the parent. “Some of this responsibility needs to go back to the parent,” Brouillette said.

Of the students she sees at the Lewiston school health center, requests or questions about birth control are “not on the minds of most in that age group,” Brouillette said.

Responding to need

But a spokeswoman for the Family Planning Association of Maine on Thursday defended the Portland School Committee decision.

The committee and the King Middle School health center are responding to a need “to keep their students well and healthy,” said Evelyn Kieltyka, senior vice president of program services at the family-planning organization. Responding to needs of patients is a health professional’s “highest calling,” she said.

Twenty years ago, Maine had one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the country. Today, it’s among the lowest, the result of better birth control and accurate sex education in schools, Kieltyka said.

She said she understands how allowing 11- to 14-year-old girls to have birth control pills strikes a nerve with many.

People who aren’t familiar with youth data may be surprised that young teens are sexually active, Kieltyka said. “People who work in this business aren’t surprised.”

Maine statistics show a small minority of middle school students are sexually active. In 2001, 16.2 percent of Maine’s middle school students had sexual intercourse, according to the Maine Middle School Youth Risk Behavior Survey. In 2005, 13.2 percent reported having sexual intercourse.

Sexually active middle schoolers are “a reflection of how society is so awash with sex and sexuality,” Kieltyka said. “If you pick up a teen magazine, it’s so provocative.”

Health professionals who work with students don’t push birth control pills or condoms, Kieltyka said. They ask questions to help students do their own critical thinking to decide what action to take or not take. They point out that being sexually active is an adult action, and ask them if they’re ready to handle the responsibilities that go along with it, Kieltyka said.

The Associated Press, and several regional Sun Journal reporters, contributed to this report.