NYC Public Schools Hand Out 13,000 Morning-After Pill Doses
By Leonardo Blair , CP Contributor
New York City public schools handed out nearly 13,000 doses of the morning-after pill to high school students during the last school year and no one had to tell their parents about it.
- blog.timesunion.comPlan B
At the time of the announcement, city officials said they had started giving out Plan B, another name for the morning-after pill, and other birth control through the nurses' office at only 13 city high schools and some 567 girls were reportedly given the drug, according to the New York Post. Another report from The New York Times also noted that while the pills would be available to students without parental permission, parents could opt their children out of the health program (and the provision of any contraceptives) at the start of the school year. Minors don't need parental permission to get contraceptives in New York State.
New data reported by the New York Post this week, however, revealed that not 13 but about 40 separate "school-based health centers" served up 12,721 doses of Plan B in the 2011-2012 school year. That was an increase compared to the 10,720 doses issued during the 2010-2011 school year, as well as on the 5,039 issued during the 2009-2010 school year.
"This administration has basically been telling bold-faced lies," the Rev. Jason McGuire, executive director of the New Yorker's Family Research Foundation, told The Christian Post on Thursday.
"New York City parents were led to believe that this was just a small program. But we have now seen this program grow exponentially. This is an issue on which the parents are going to have to loudly voice their opinion because the mayor's administration has been largely deaf [to it]," he added.
He also noted that schools say "they give parents an opt-out form but they should make it opt-in" as most of the forms don't make it home to them anyhow. "I think it's counter-productive and counter-intuitive for them to do this," he said.
"As a woman and a mom, the idea of young girls getting any unauthorized medication at school is a concern. Ibuprofen isn't even allowed without explicit parental approval. Who are the geniuses that decided this is a good idea?" asked Nance in an op-ed.
"Unashamedly, the NYCDOE has placed their politics above students and their well-being. And if the NYCDOE wants to play politics, then parents must step up to the election polls and make their complaints heard," said Nance.
NYC Parents Union President Mona Davids, whose 14-year-old attends a Manhattan high school, told the New York Post that the news was worrisome. "I'm in shock," she said. "What gives the mayor the right to decide, without adequate notice, to give our children drugs that will impact their bodies and their psyches? He has purposely kept the public and parents in the dark with his agenda."
Davids, who is black, added that most school-based health centers are in poor neighborhoods and they targeted the black and Latino populations. According to the New York Post report, besides "emergency contraception," about 40 school-based clinics have dispensed prescriptions for birth-control pills, intrauterine devices (IUDs), hormone-delivering injections and Patch and NuvaRing – covering a total 93,569 monthly cycles through June 2012.
Handouts of birth-control packets rose from 6,027 in 2009-10 to 10,462 last year. Depo-Provera injections rose from 1,213 to 2,117. Plastic IUDs were also inserted in the uterus, where they can remain for years. New York City reported that some 6,300 NYC girls under age 17 had unplanned pregnancies last year, and more than half had abortions. Of those who gave birth, about 70 percent drop out of school, making their futures bleak, said the report.
Associated Press
The New
York City Department of Education announcement making the
morning-after-pill available to high school girls at 13 public schools
in September 2012.
We Recommend
From Around the Web
-
Our 12 Favorite Primers to Help Makeup Stay Put (Beauty High)
-
Gray Hairs are Gonna Clear Up…. (Fab Over Fifty)
-
9 Chicken Recipes You Cannot Miss! (Que Rica Vida)
Accused witch burned alive in Papua New Guinea
 |
| Associated Press/Post Courier - In this Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013 photo, bystanders watch as a woman accused of witchcraft is burned alive in the Western Highlands provincial capital of Mount Hagen in Papua New |
PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (AP) — A mob stripped, tortured and bound a woman accused of witchcraft,
then burned her alive in front of hundreds of horrified witnesses in a
Papua New Guinea town, police said Friday. It was the latest
sorcery-related killing in this South Pacific island nation.
Bystanders, including many children, watched and some took
photographs of Wednesday's brutal slaying. Grisly pictures were
published on the front pages of the country's biggest circulating
newspapers, The National and Post-Courier, while the prime minister,
police and diplomats condemned the killing.
In rural Papua New Guinea, witchcraft is often blamed for unexplained misfortunes. Sorcery has traditionally been countered by sorcery, but responses to allegations of witchcraft have become increasingly violent in recent years.
Kepari Leniata, a 20-year-old mother, had been accused of sorcery by
relatives of a 6-year-old boy who died in the hospital the day before.
She was tortured with a hot iron
rod, bound, doused in gasoline, and then set alight on a pile of car
tires and trash in the Western Highlands provincial capital of Mount
Hagen, national police spokesman Dominic Kakas said.
Deputy Police Commissioner Simon
Kauba on Friday blasted Mount Hagen investigators by phone for failing
to make a single arrest, Kakas said.
The public were apparently not cooperating with police, and police
carrying out the investigation were not working hard enough, Kakas said."He was very, very disappointed that there's been no arrest made as yet," Kakas said.
"The incident happened in broad daylight in front of hundreds of eyewitnesses and yet we haven't picked up any suspects yet," Kakas added.
Kakas described the victim's husband as the "prime suspect" and said the man fled the province.
Kakas said he did not know if there was a relationship between the husband and the dead boy's family.
He said more than 50 people are suspected to have "laid a hand on the victim" and committed crimes in the mob attack. While many children had witnessed the killing, there were no child suspects, he said.
Kakas said onlookers were shocked by the brutality but were powerless to stop the mob. Police officers were also present but were outnumbered and could not save the woman, he said. There is an internal investigation underway into what action police at the scene took.
Police Commissioner Tom Kulunga described the slaying as "shocking and devilish."
"We are in the 21st century and this is totally unacceptable," Kulunga said in a statement.He suggested courts be established to deal with sorcery allegations, as an alternative to villagers dispensing justice.
Prime Minister Pete O'Neill said he had instructed police to use all available manpower to bring the killers to justice.
"It is reprehensible that women, the old and the weak in our society should be targeted for alleged sorcery or wrongs that they actually have nothing to do with," O'Neill said.
The U.S. Embassy in the national capital Port Moresby issued a statement calling for a sustained international partnership to enhance anti-gender-based violence laws throughout the Pacific.
The embassy of Australia, Papua New Guinea's colonial ruler until independence in 1975 and now its biggest foreign aid donor, said: "We join ... all reasonable Papua New Guineans in looking forward to the perpetrators being brought to justice."
In other recent sorcery-related killings, police arrested 29 people in July last year accused of being part of a cannibal cult in Papua New Guinea's jungle interior and charged them with the murders of seven suspected witch doctors.
Kakas could not immediately say what had become of the 29 since their first court appearances last year in the north coast province of Madang.
Police alleged the cult members ate their victims' brains raw and made soup from their penises.
The killers allegedly believed that their victims practiced sorcery and that they had been extorting money as well as demanding sex from poor villagers for their supernatural services.
By eating witch doctors' organs, the cult members believed they would attain supernatural powers.
Murder in punishable by death in Papua New Guinea, a poor tribal nation of 7 million people who are mostly subsistence farmers. But no one has been hanged since independence.
http://news.yahoo.com/accused-witch-burned-alive-papua-guinea-012307648.html
Surprise investigations aimed at homeschoolers
Connecticut cites need for 'confidential behavioral health assessment'
Michael F. Haverluck
In what critics are seeing as an ultimate power grab, state officials in Connecticut are pushing forward a bill to require state investigations of children like never before – calling for a “confidential behavioral health assessment” of every public school student in grades 6, 8, 10 and 12, and every homeschool student at ages 12, 14 and 17.
The proposed Bill 374 is being described as the ultimate home invasion.
“It’s outrageous that state officials could come into private homes and potentially remove children if they are assessed as a threat as a result of the investigation,” Home School Legal Defense Association Senior Counsel Dee Black told WND in an interview.
“Regardless of what state officials claim, I don’t believe the results [of the investigations] will be held confidential.”
Black, who provides legal assistance and advice for HSLDA members in what is ironically nicknamed the “Constitution State,” sees this proposed measure as anything but constitutional.
And when asked if the psychological tests given by the social services hands the state too much unchecked power – enabling government officials to seize and tag children as mentally unfit or maladjusted – Black answered definitively.
“No question about it,” asserted the Memphis State University School of Law graduate. “I don’t think people who live in a free society should be forced to give into mental evaluations of their children.”
He contends such intrusions are both unwarranted and unconscionable.
“Proposed Bill 374 would essentially authorize the state to conduct regular social services investigations of homeschooling families without any basis to do so,” asserts Black, who earned a Master of Laws degree at Georgetown University Law Center. “This outrageous legislative proposal must be stopped in its tracks before it gains any momentum.”
The key motivation behind such a bill including homeschoolers?
“The alleged [Sandy Hook] shooter was allegedly homeschooled for a while, but I’m not sure if it could have anything to do with it,” said Black, who has educated all four of his children at home with his wife. “The bill only covers homeschool and public school students – not conventional private school students. The heightened sensitivity in Connecticut about safety in schools could certainly be a factor [behind the bill] … trying to identify threats before they become a tragedy.”
And just what takes place during these in investigations?
“According to the Connecticut Behavioral Health Partnership, a state organization made up of the Department of Children and Families, Department of Social Services, Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, and others, a behavioral health assessment is quite comprehensive and invasive,” reports Black, who’s been practicing law for 36 years.
“It includes ‘a review of physical and mental health, intelligence, school performance, employment, level of function in different domains including family situation, and behavior in the community.’”
Putting things into perspective, Black warns that parents could see social services following their children around their neighborhoods, observing them interacting at home with their families, showing up at their work, inspecting their classroom performance, administering IQ tests, psychologically analyzing them and physically examining their bodies.
When would students be subjected to all of this?
“Proposed Bill 374, filed in the Connecticut General Assembly, would require all homeschooled children ages 12, 14, and 17 to undergo a behavioral health assessment,” said Black, who has served with HSLDA as senior counsel for nearly two decades. “These assessments would be conducted by an unspecified health care provider and would be conducted even though there was no indication whatsoever that these children had a behavioral problem.”
And Black warns that the results might not be as private as the state claims.
“The bill states that the results of the assessments are to be disclosed only to the child’s parent or guardian, but that the health care provider must submit a form to the State Board of Education verifying that the child has received the assessment,” he said.
He urges homeschoolers and any Americans concerned about the violation of children’s constitutional rights to act now.
“Immediately contact members of the committee and express … opposition to this unwarranted invasion of family privacy,” Black said. “This legislation is sponsored by Sen. Toni Nathaniel Harp (10th Dist.) and Rep. Toni E. Walker (93rd Dist.), [and] the bill is presently in the Public Health Committee.”
Michael F. Haverluck
In what critics are seeing as an ultimate power grab, state officials in Connecticut are pushing forward a bill to require state investigations of children like never before – calling for a “confidential behavioral health assessment” of every public school student in grades 6, 8, 10 and 12, and every homeschool student at ages 12, 14 and 17.
The proposed Bill 374 is being described as the ultimate home invasion.
“It’s outrageous that state officials could come into private homes and potentially remove children if they are assessed as a threat as a result of the investigation,” Home School Legal Defense Association Senior Counsel Dee Black told WND in an interview.
“Regardless of what state officials claim, I don’t believe the results [of the investigations] will be held confidential.”
Black, who provides legal assistance and advice for HSLDA members in what is ironically nicknamed the “Constitution State,” sees this proposed measure as anything but constitutional.
And when asked if the psychological tests given by the social services hands the state too much unchecked power – enabling government officials to seize and tag children as mentally unfit or maladjusted – Black answered definitively.
“No question about it,” asserted the Memphis State University School of Law graduate. “I don’t think people who live in a free society should be forced to give into mental evaluations of their children.”
He contends such intrusions are both unwarranted and unconscionable.
“Proposed Bill 374 would essentially authorize the state to conduct regular social services investigations of homeschooling families without any basis to do so,” asserts Black, who earned a Master of Laws degree at Georgetown University Law Center. “This outrageous legislative proposal must be stopped in its tracks before it gains any momentum.”
The key motivation behind such a bill including homeschoolers?
“The alleged [Sandy Hook] shooter was allegedly homeschooled for a while, but I’m not sure if it could have anything to do with it,” said Black, who has educated all four of his children at home with his wife. “The bill only covers homeschool and public school students – not conventional private school students. The heightened sensitivity in Connecticut about safety in schools could certainly be a factor [behind the bill] … trying to identify threats before they become a tragedy.”
And just what takes place during these in investigations?
“According to the Connecticut Behavioral Health Partnership, a state organization made up of the Department of Children and Families, Department of Social Services, Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, and others, a behavioral health assessment is quite comprehensive and invasive,” reports Black, who’s been practicing law for 36 years.
“It includes ‘a review of physical and mental health, intelligence, school performance, employment, level of function in different domains including family situation, and behavior in the community.’”
Putting things into perspective, Black warns that parents could see social services following their children around their neighborhoods, observing them interacting at home with their families, showing up at their work, inspecting their classroom performance, administering IQ tests, psychologically analyzing them and physically examining their bodies.
When would students be subjected to all of this?
“Proposed Bill 374, filed in the Connecticut General Assembly, would require all homeschooled children ages 12, 14, and 17 to undergo a behavioral health assessment,” said Black, who has served with HSLDA as senior counsel for nearly two decades. “These assessments would be conducted by an unspecified health care provider and would be conducted even though there was no indication whatsoever that these children had a behavioral problem.”
And Black warns that the results might not be as private as the state claims.
“The bill states that the results of the assessments are to be disclosed only to the child’s parent or guardian, but that the health care provider must submit a form to the State Board of Education verifying that the child has received the assessment,” he said.
He urges homeschoolers and any Americans concerned about the violation of children’s constitutional rights to act now.
“Immediately contact members of the committee and express … opposition to this unwarranted invasion of family privacy,” Black said. “This legislation is sponsored by Sen. Toni Nathaniel Harp (10th Dist.) and Rep. Toni E. Walker (93rd Dist.), [and] the bill is presently in the Public Health Committee.”
Brown University’s student health plan will cover sex changes
Contributor: Sean E. Harris | Berean Baptist Church
Students at Brown University who decide they want to change genders will now be covered under the school’s generous student health insurance plan.
Beginning in August, Brown’s student health insurance plan will pay for more than a dozen different sexual reassignment surgery procedures, including scrotoplasty, labiaplasty, clitoroplasty and placement of testicular prostheses, reports The Brown Daily Herald. The plan as currently configured will cover only students, not staff.
“We identified this as an important benefit for students to have access to,” Director of Insurance and Purchasing Services Jeanne Hebert wrote in an email to the school’s student newspaper. She added that the new health care benefit is part of a broader effort “to support all students” at Brown. ...
http://www.sermonaudio.com/new_details.asp?ID=36102
Students at Brown University who decide they want to change genders will now be covered under the school’s generous student health insurance plan.
Beginning in August, Brown’s student health insurance plan will pay for more than a dozen different sexual reassignment surgery procedures, including scrotoplasty, labiaplasty, clitoroplasty and placement of testicular prostheses, reports The Brown Daily Herald. The plan as currently configured will cover only students, not staff.
“We identified this as an important benefit for students to have access to,” Director of Insurance and Purchasing Services Jeanne Hebert wrote in an email to the school’s student newspaper. She added that the new health care benefit is part of a broader effort “to support all students” at Brown.
 |
CLICK HERE to Read Entire Article dailycaller.com |
 |
| FOCUS | Audio commentaries on this news item | more..
|
http://www.sermonaudio.com/new_details.asp?ID=36102
Freedom Outpost
|
||||||||
Patriot Update
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)