Do schools have birth-control role?

Following the story of a Maine middle school offering birth control to students because of an outbreak of teen pregnancies*, my Denver Post column today takes on a new task force “study” that recommends contraceptives – including birth control pills and emergency contraception — be handed out to low-income kids in the city. 

This particular task force (and there are never enough special task forces roaming around Colorado) consists of 43 diverse experts who all share two characteristics.

1. They’re all far smarter than I am.

2. Not a single member of the distinguished panel is a parent to my children (unfortunate for my children, I agree.)

The second point is a critical one overlooked in this age of “community.” We’ve become so deferential to task forces and experts - especially when it comes to what’s best for our children - that we’ve forgotten that, guess what, they’re not always right.

More important – at least in my world view – is the fact that the state is not here to replace the parent. Or shouldn’t be. There are many parents who have a moral dilemma regarding contraception and particularly “emergency contraception,” which is said to prevent most pregnancies if taken within a few days of sexual intercourse. This is still America and competent parents still get to raise their own children.

Until — or should say when — we all become collective parents in a New Brave World.

*As a growing national problem, this is a myth. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, teen pregnancies have been plummeting for more than a decade. The CDC reports that births to 15- to 17-year-olds fell in 2004 to 133,980, the fewest since 1950.