Portland, ME Press Herald - Lawsuit Threat Spurs More Input on Birth Control Policy

November 8, 2007
By Kelley Bouchard, Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald

The threat of a lawsuit by a national conservative legal advocacy group prompted Portland residents to speak out Wedneasday night about the School Committee's recent decision to allow prescription birth control to be offered at King Middle School's health center.

The issue wasn't on the committee's agenda, but the possibility that the American Center for Law & Justice might take the committee to court prompted about 15 people to speak when open comment was allowed.

The Washington, D.C.-based group, founded by televangelist Pat Robertson, sent a letter to the committee on Monday demanding that it drop its support for a plan to offer prescription contraception at the city-run health center.

At the very least, group leaders said, they want the committee to ensure that only students 14 or older have access to birth control, and only with written permission from their parents. King students are ages 11 to 15.

The issue attracted about 30 people to the committee's regular business meeting at Portland Arts and Technology High School, but only Portland residents were allowed to speak. Six people spoke against providing birth control at the middle school and nine spoke in favor, including some organized by Planned Parenthood of Northern New England.

"You have my very strong support," said Ellen Popenoe, a King parent, who said she was upset by the national controversy and effort to influence a local decision.

Scott Webber, another King parent, praised the school's health center and its staff but said the committee should reverse its Oct. 17 decision.

"I do not think it is right for (the health center staff) or the school to take the rights of parents away," Webber said.

Stephen Whiting, a Portland lawyer who is state director for the American Center for Law & Justice, didn't speak at the meeting, in part because he lives in Scarborough. He said he was there to support Portland residents who want to overturn the committee's decision and to monitor the committee's response to his organization's letter.

"This is a very serious issue," Whiting said outside the meeting.

The committee has no plan to reconsider its 7-2 vote to offer prescription birth control at the middle school, Chairman John Coyne said after the meeting.

Coyne said the committee's attorneys are reviewing a proposal by member Benjamin Meiklejohn that seeks to clarify various legal issues around providing contraception at King.

Coyne and Meiklejohn opposed the measure.

The Maine Attorney General's Office also is reviewing legal issues involved in the decision.

Although students must have parental permission to be treated at King's health center, which is run by Portland's Public Health Division, state law allows them to receive confidential care for reproductive health, mental health and substance abuse issues.

King's health center has offered condoms as part of comprehensive reproductive health treatment since it opened in 2000.

The Maine Civil Liberties Union, a legal advocacy group that supports mostly liberal causes, backs the committee's effort to ensure that Portland's young people have full access to comprehensive medical care, said Shenna Bellows, executive director.

Bellows, who lives in Portland, urged the committee to fight the pressure of outsiders attempting to force their values on Portland.

"Unfortunately, failure to obtain parental consent to receive birth control would not always lead to abstinence," Bellows said. "It is for that smaller, more vulnerable population that your decision is essential."