Private MD News

Some debate emerges over availability of morning after pill at New York City schools

Category: Sexually Transmitted Diseases

According to the New York Post, the New York State Department of Education has begun dispensing morning after pills - specifically Plan B - at 13 New York City high schools. Although the administration hopes this move will reduce teen pregnancies, one Philadelphia columnist worries that many more students will have unfavorable results on their STD tests.

This part of the Connecting Adolescents to Comprehensive Health program, aka CATCH - the practice of giving Plan B to high school students without a prescription - has gone unpublicized in 40 New York City schools for a number of years. Parents have the option to opt their child out of the program if they choose.

"We've had no negative reaction to the CATCH program," Deborah Kaplan, an official of the health department, explained to NBC News. "We haven't had one objection. We've just had the opt-outs."

On The Philly Post's blog, journalist Christopher Moraff predicted that teens won't bother using condoms if they know they have access to Plan B whenever they want. According to this theory, by inadvertently encouraging adolescents to engage in unprotected sex, the Department of Education could be fostering positive results for conditions like gonorrhea and herpes on STD tests.