LYNN — The city’s teen birth rate is more than triple the state rate. To combat those alarming statistics, school officials are considering offering condoms, birth control and emergency contraception in the district’s high schools.
According to the most recent report from the Department of Public Health, Lynn’s teen birth rate was 29.2 births per 1,000 girls aged 15 to 19 in 2016, far exceeding the state’s rate that year of 8.5.
Of the 30 largest municipalities in the state listed in the May 2018 report, only New Bedford and Lawrence had higher teen birth rates that year at 31.6 and 34.5 respectively.
Lynn Community Health Center, a partner of Lynn Public Schools that has a clinical presence in the school district, says offering contraception in the form of a Depo-Provera shot as a preventive measure could potentially cut the district’s teen pregnancies by 20 to 25 percent.
Lynn School Superintendent Dr. Patrick Tutwiler said what the health center was proposing could be a promising practice, based on similar districts to Lynn already offering contraceptives to combat teen pregnancy.
“They think that’s a solution and they’ve got research in other communities that would support that’s the case,” Tutwiler said.
“I’ve got four daughters,” said School Committee member John Ford. “(I’ve) spent a lot of sleepless nights. I think there’s nothing that changes a young lady’s life more than an unwanted pregnancy and I think we should be doing everything we can to make it that way.”
Right now, in the schools, Lynn Community Health Center clinicians are able to provide basic education on contraception and sexually transmitted infections, test for STIs and pregnancy, refer students to clinics for the shot and prescribe birth control, according to Lynn Community Health Center CEO Dr. Kiame Mahaniah.
But the problem is, when students are referred to health clinics or prescribed birth control at a pharmacy, they don’t always follow through, leaving them without any protection, according to Mahaniah.
Mahaniah told the School Committee on Thursday night that he was asking that Lynn Community Health Center clinicians be able to service the high schools by giving condoms, dispensing oral contraceptives, injecting Depo-Provera and providing Plan B emergency contraception to students who ask.
Other high schools that provide some or all of those four options already include those in Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Lawrence, Peabody, Salem, Somerville and Charlestown, according to Mahaniah.
Mahaniah said students are already coming to clinicians asking for contraceptives and by state law, they’re not allowed to tell those kids’ parents.
If the district opted to offer contraceptives, condoms or Plan B in its high schools, it would have to be in the form of a policy change adopted by the School Committee. There was no vote on Thursday, with administrative officials saying the community health center presentation was meant to bring the need to their attention.
