OneNewsNow.com - ACLJ Threatens Maine School Dist. With Lawsuit Over Contraceptive Policy

November 6, 2007
Pete Chagnon, OneNewsNow.com

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A conservative law group is threatening legal action against a Maine school district if it doesn't reverse a controversial health policy.

The American Center for Law & Justice (ADLJ) has threatened to sue the Portland, Maine, school district over a recently approved policy that would give middle school students access to contraceptives through the school health center. Although students need parental permission to receive treatment at the health center, parents were never told that treatment could include birth control.

Vince McCarthy, senior attorney for the ACLJ, says parents had other things in mind when signing permission forms. "Of course nothing was ever told to the parents about birth-control pills or anything like that; they're thinking band-aids, maybe worst-case scenario, aspirin or something -- you know. And here the school is passing out contraceptives to kids, and the parents had no knowledge of this whatsoever," he says.

The attorney also states that the policy promotes illegal sexual activity. "In Maine, if a 13-year-old girl has sex with someone, that person is committing an act of sexual abuse and statutory rape, if it ends up going further than just, you know, preliminary sexual overtures. And so we believe that this [policy] is wrong. We believe it's illegal, and we are demanding that the school stop this procedure immediately," says McCarthy.

School officials plan to meet Wednesday to reconsider the policy. But McCarthy says if the policy is not reversed in Wednesday's meeting, a lawsuit will be filed within a few weeks -- and he believes that the ACLJ will easily win.