UPDATED: Mandatory Pregnancy Testing In School

Filed in National by on August 7, 2012

Lookee at what Delhi Charter School is up to:

Delhi Charter School, in Delhi, Louisiana, has come under fire for its policy that campaigners say is ‘clearly illegal under federal laws’.

Under the new rules, a teacher can ‘require’ a student to have a test if they suspect she could be pregnant.
If the test comes back positive, the policy states: ‘The student will not be permitted to attend classes on the campus of Delhi Charter School.’

She will be required to pursue a course of home study. Delhi Charter School has established an environment whereby the conduct of its students must be in keeping with the school’s goals and objectives relative to character development.’

The American Civil Liberties Union has blasted the 600-student school, with executive director Marjorie Esman saying: ‘The pregnancy policy violates the rights of every girl at Delhi Charter School.

‘Every girl is at risk of being subject to intrusive medical testing, and possibly forced out of school, for reasons that have nothing to do with her education.’

Let’s review what the girls at the school will be subjected to:

*Teachers suspecting a girl may be pregnant and reporting it?
(How a teacher determines who is and isn’t pregnant boggles the mind.)
*A forced medical procedure?
*Kicked out of the school if pregnancy test is positive?

And what happens to the boys at Delhi Charter School who participated in pregnancy, or who have fathered a child?

Nothing.

UPDATE: Here’s the policy that John Young linked to in the comments



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A stay-at-home mom with an obsession for National politics.

Comments (22)

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  1. reis says:

    I said “congratulations” once to a friend who appeared pregnant. Not ever going to do that again.

  2. John Young says:

    pandora, UNREAL policy on this: http://www.delhicharterschool.org/www/dcscharter/site/hosting/Delhi_Charter_School_Policy_Manual.html

    enter 130 in the page XXX/216 box at top to read!

  3. liberalgeek says:

    I’m shocked, SHOCKED! that this would happen in a state that has gone whole hog into charters. It is unfathomable that Bobby “The Exorcist” Jindal would allow something like this to happen in his state…

    Wait… does “unfathomable mean the same thing as “not at all surprising”? no? nevermind.

  4. John Young says:

    actually pick a page, any page.

  5. puck says:

    The girls are lucky there isn’t mandatory stoning.

  6. Steve Newton says:

    So what if, at the parent conference, the girl says, “Yes! I had an orgasm and got pregnant with little Johnny LeDrieux in my homeroom class.”

    What happens to the boy who participated in the pregnancy? Is he kicked out?

  7. pandora says:

    The Pregnancy policy doesn’t seem to mention the boy at all. I’m still reading through the manual… and it’s a doozy.

  8. liberalgeek says:

    Well, theoretically, their student policies would include the boy if the actual sexual activity took place in the school. But it seems that for every pregnant girl, every boy’s DNA would have to be typed to the baby. It’s only fair.

  9. Steve Newton says:

    I like to be an active parent. How about saltpeter in the school lunches?

  10. Linda says:

    This is sick and the parents would be just as sick to send their daughters to this school. The language “physician of their choice” are you kidding me that could mean a podiatrist or chiropractor!!! This takes the meaning of the peliCAN state to a whole new level.

  11. puck says:

    On the other hand… I’m going to play devil’s advocate for a bit, and probably get flamed for it.

    What are the teen pregnancy statistics down there? As offensive as it sounds to our ears (mine included), perhaps we should not be so quick to judge parents who are desperate for any options to keep their daughters from becoming pregnant teenagers.

    Perhaps in the universe of charters and vouchers in LA, parents should be able to choose one school where pregnancy is not a short-cut to attention and approval, and their daughters are not surrounded by pregnant teens as role models.

  12. Linda says:

    (this is what I found) In 2010, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded six grants totaling $30 million to Louisiana-based state and non-profit agencies to address the critical issue of teen pregnancy prevention. According to recent statistics, Louisiana has the 18th highest teen pregnancy rate and ranks 13th for teen birth rates in the nation.

  13. pandora says:

    Here’s what I’ve found on Louisiana and sex ed:

    Louisiana does not require schools to offer sexuality or sexually transmitted disease (STD)/HIV education, but schools are permitted to offer it after sixth grade. State law mandates that sexuality education cannot be offered in kindergarten through sixth grade, except in Orleans Parish, which may offer sexuality education in the third grade and above. Schools must provide this education “regardless of the student’s grade level” if the student is parenting or pregnant.[2] The education must be integrated into “an existing course study such as biology, science, physical hygiene, or physical education.”[3] It cannot include “religious beliefs, practices in human sexuality, nor the subjective moral and ethical judgments of the instructor or other persons. Students shall not be tested, quizzed, or surveyed about their personal or family beliefs or practices in sex, morality, or religion.”[4] According to the Louisiana Handbook for School Administrators, students must be taught “the principle modes by which communicable diseases, including, but not limited to, HIV infection, are spread and the best methods for the restriction and prevention of these diseases.”[5] Schools are prohibited from distributing any “contraceptive or abortifacient drug, device, or other similar product.”[6]

    Classes may not include “any sexually explicit materials depicting male or female homosexual activity.”[7] They also may not in “any way counsel or advocate abortion.”[8] In addition, this education must emphasize that:

    abstinence from sexual activity outside of marriage is the expected standard for all school-age children;
    abstinence from sexual activity is a way to avoid unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, including acquired immune deficiency syndrome, and other associated health problems; and
    each student has the power to control personal behavior and to encourage students to base action on reasoning, self-esteem, and respect for others.[9]

    But why teach sex ed when it’s much easier to shame and punish girls (not boys) for pregnancy. Louisiana has a high teen pregnancy rate? No sh*t.

  14. Frank says:

    Simple explanation, actually.

    Boys will be boys.

    But girls damned well better not be girls.

    Furrfu.

  15. Linda says:

    Simple solution to boys will be boys LOL

    http://techcitement.com/culture/the-best-birth-control-in-the-world-is-for-men/#.UCF6eKioFTa

    one shot in the scrotum . . .

  16. heragain says:

    So, did anyone here know any pregnant teens, when you were teens?

    Shortly after a nutritious school lunch of Mastodon, I did.

    They dropped out of school. Sometimes they were spirited away to out of town relatives to give the baby up for adoption, and sometimes they had abortions. Very few of them actually kept the baby, and none finished school.

    A few years later, i was driving a school bus, same district. Some of my kids had kids, who kissed them goodbye at the bus stop, and went back with grandma to get ready for Head Start. At least they were trying to get through High School.

    See, I don’t get why parents send their kids to schools with uniforms. I don’t understand the whole rigid, yet permissive, picture in schools. But I’ll bet there are kids hoping to choice into that school. All schools have rules about who gets to attend, even ‘feeder’ schools. You can’t come if you’re dressed wrong, if you carry weapons, if you flunk out, if you have learning disabilities… everyone has something. This is their something.

    Sure, it’s a stupid something. But no one is DNA testing pregnant teens in Louisiana. Too much incest, it’s embarrassing to the voters.

  17. Aoine says:

    “perhaps we should not be so quick to judge parents who are desperate for any options to keep their daughters from becoming pregnant teenagers”

    OMG – COME ON!! – if they are that desperate there is the pill and NORPLANT – for pete’s sake!! telling them to just say NO does not work – and as Catholics know – what you call those that practice the “rythmn method” is parents

    lets fund Planned Parenthood and have birth control avaialable

    if you dont want an abortion – first dont get pregnant
    or
    if you do – dont get an abortion

    this is no longer rocket science – its a simple fix – its outdated morality that gets in the way of fixing it

    and yes – DNA test to determmine the father – then years of child-support made MANDATORY – wagses attached and taxes attached.

    wanna play like an adult??- then get treated like one

  18. socalistic ben says:

    aoine, as puck said, while playing devil’s advocate…. it’s wrong..
    but these are backwards people. you have to imagine living in 1890…. a conservative 1890. They think science is black magic, modern medicine is heresy, and solar eclipses are God warning them. We should be trying to educate these people. If we try and “hit back hard” it will only strengthen their distrust of modern truths.

  19. socalistic ben says:

    drop a glass coke bottle in Louisiana and see if they start to worship it

  20. puck says:

    It’s a 3 1/2 drive from Delhi to the closest Planned Parenthood clinic.

  21. V says:

    is it weird that my FIRST thought reading this post was “what if the girl is abused by someone at home (or school or somewhere else for that matter), gets pregnant, and is trying to hide it because she has no idea what to do?”

    what does THAT girl do? do we expell her on top of it as punishment? expose her to the school?

    it’s more common than you think it is.