LYNN, MASS. (WHDH) - High schools in Lynn will soon make birth control, condoms, and emergency contraceptives available to students due to the city’s high teen pregnancy rate.
The Lynn School Committee heard from both sides of the argument on Thursday, with emotional testimonials from parents, health advocates, and students as they looked for ways to curb teenage pregnancy.
Some spoke about the hardships associated with teenage pregnancy.
“Every day is a struggle and every day I strive to do the best I can,” one student said. “Although I love being a mother to my beautiful son I have no doubt in my mind that if I knew I had the option to get birth control at my own health center, my outcome would have been different and my life would be easier.”
While others argued the importance of parental involvement in a child’s healthcare.
“Any time the government, which the school is part of, moves into the moral or ethical sphere of family and parents’ rights, it is overreached in the most egregious and inappropriate ways,” one man countered.
The rate of teen pregnancy in Lynn is more than triple that of the state average.
There were 57 pregnant minors enrolled in Lynn Public Schools last year. About 12 percent of those 57 girls had been pregnant before.
Health advocates say that providing these contraceptives would go beyond preventing unwanted pregnancy, it would also curb the rate of sexually transmitted diseases.
There were 21 cases of chlamydia in school-based health centers in Lynn in September alone, according to the Daily Item.
“We’re taking away obstacles from safety. We’re not telling them ‘Hey, you should go have sex.’ Condoms don’t make kids want to have sex it makes them want to protect people,” one woman said.
New Bedford and Lawrence were the only other cities in the Bay State with higher birth rates last year, according to a recent public health report cited by the newspaper.
Other school districts, including Boston, Salem, Cambridge, and Somerville already provide access.
There is no timetable in place for when this decision will be implemented in Lynn’s three public high schools.
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