NYC mayor candidate: Middle schools should give 11-year-olds morning after pill

by Ben Johnson

NEW YORK CITY, August 21, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Christine Quinn, a Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City, has said she would be open to having middle schools distribute the morning after pill to girls as young as 11 without parental notification.

Quinn made the announcement on Tuesday while receiving the endorsement of Planned Parenthood.

The city council speaker admitted the idea “can make some people uncomfortable” according to the New York Post, but providing abortifacients to preteens in public schools is “a really important option we need to make accessible.”

“If the data shows us that that is what would be most helpful, that is what we’ll do,” she said.

Thanks to a ruling from New York Judge Edward Korman, Plan B is available to all girls of reproductive age without a prescription. However, Quinn would have taxpayers foot the bill.

Under state law, schools do not need to obtain parental consent to dispense the drugs.

Contraception is already available in a number of high school “health centers,” located mostly in poor and minority neighborhoods.

New York City schools distributed 12,721 doses of the morning after pill to students last year, according to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The schools administered another 2,117 shots of the long-acting contraceptive Depo-Provera. Students also received hormone injections, or were implanted with the Nuva Ring or IUDs, in addition to receiving 10,462 packets of birth control.

The 40 school “health centers” have now increased to more than 50.

Quinn and two of her Democratic challengers, Controller John Liu and former City Councilman Sal Albanese, would further extend the morning after pill distribution.

Republican John Catsimatidis said he would require parental consent before distributing such drugs.

The New York Daily News reports that Joe Lhota, another GOP hopeful, said furnishing emergency contraception to 11-year-olds was “ridiculous.”

Plan B blocks fertilization, but may also work to prevent a newly conceived child from implanting in the uterine walls, resulting in a chemical abortion.

Powerful contraceptive and abortifacient drugs have been found to have a variety of negative side effects. Arizona State University researchers have linked Depo-Provera to memory loss. The pill has been found to increase the risk of blood clots.

A study published in December by a University of North Carolina professor found that widespread use of “emergency contraception” had no effect on pregnancy or abortion rates but “led to a statistically significant increase in STD rates.”

Nonetheless, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a policy statement last November asking doctors, including school nurses, to promote the use of “emergency contraception” among sexually active teens.

Quinn previously supported an unconstitutional ordinance requiring crisis pregnancy centers to advertise that they do not perform abortions, a measure EMC/Frontline Pregnancy Centers founder Chris Slattery said aimed "to deny access to free information, assistance, and ultrasounds to pregnant women in need.”

Her hardline stance and longtime advocacy won her the support of the nation's largest abortion provider, which favors the wide distribution of contraception and abortion-inducing drugs.

Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Christina Chang told the Post, “we would like to make sure that whatever choices that young people are making, that they have options available to them if birth control fails.”