High School Clinic to Offer Birth Control

School officials hope to combat teen pregnancy and STDs.

The health center at New London High School already diagnoses and treats sexually transmitted diseases and provides pregnancy tests. Soon, it will also be handing out birth control

Beginning on March 1, the clinic Child & Family Agency of Southeastern Connecticut runs in the high school will begin offering condoms and birth control prescriptions. 

Supt. Nicholas Fischer said there's a "continuously unacceptably high rate of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease," according to research the Ledge Light Health District has done over the last 10-15 years.

"We want to help students think through" the consequences of their choices, Fischer said.

Sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy were identified as major reproductive health issues in New London and the Ledge Light Health District released a report in 2010 saying chlamydia infection rates in New London were higher than U.S. rates. They also found rates of gonorrhea to be high.

The study found that rates were declining, but “failure to sustain or improve STD and teen pregnancy prevention efforts that are currently in place in New London may result in rebounding rates.”

If approved at tonight's board of education meeting, the Child & Family Agency of Southeastern Connecticut will send letters to parents offering opt-outs, Fischer said.

He said 94 percent of the students from New London in the city's schools live in poverty. For many, the school-based health clinic is their first exposure to health care. 

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