Mayor Defends Program That Gives Birth Control Pill To Students
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Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended the decision to expand a program which offers Plan B, a birth control pill, to students on his weekly radio show Friday.
The Connecting Adolescents to Comprehensive Health or CATCH program began last year and is now offered in 13 schools.
The pilot program began with five schools in January 2011.
Do you welcome the distribution of Plan B to students? Should the program be expanded to include all public schools? If you oppose this idea, how would you prevent unplanned pregnancies in young adults? Read New Yorkers' thoughts.
Speaking on his weekly radio show, the mayor said the city has been successful in lowering the rate of teen pregnancy through education and birth control.
Bloomberg added that in most cases, teen pregnancy will negatively impact the life of both the child and the mother, who likely lacks the maturity to raise a child.
"It's not good for the mother and it's not good for the baby," he said. "And I'm sure there's a Nobel Prize winner that was born that way someplace that turned out just fine but the statistics are not there."
The mayor also defended the decision to allow parents to opt out of the program instead of opting in, saying "forms don't work."
The program is being tried in schools that don't have large health departments.