For the past 35 years, clinics, hospitals and health centers have been able to provide contraception and reproductive counseling services to minors without notifying parents. That state law had been largely uncontested until last year, when a Portland School Committee voted to allow a middle school health center to dispense several different types of birth control without parents' approval. That vote ignited strong response from parents around the state. "And then suddenly there were two bills that we had to fight in the Legislature that would have reversed 35 years of state law." Kate Brogan is a policy analyst with the Family Planning Association of Maine. "What the experts say about talking with your kids about sexuality is that it can’t be one conversation, it has to be a lot of little conversations. And what I hear about talking to parents about it is that it can’t be one conversation, it has to be a lot of little conversations. The reason that we're having these forums is that talking with legislators, it can't be one conversation it has to be a lot of little conversations." When Legislators submit new bills in January, Brogan says she expects at least one will challenge the current law that allows minors to obtain birth control without their parents' consent.

 

Republican Senator Doug Smith of Dover-Foxcroft proposed a bill last year after the Portland School Committee vote but the bill was unsuccessful. He says he is considering whether to challenge the law again and is doing more background research on the issue. "I’m not sure that I do oppose the law, and I’m not sure that it is being properly interpreted by some. What I’m interested in, and what most people are interested is not having outsiders substitute themselves for parental consent. And for those who have families who want to be involved, there is very great concern about this."

 

The Family Planning Association of Maine has launched what it calls the Heart of ME Campaign, which it says aims to encourage healthy, empowered and responsible teen behavior. The Association wants to preserve the current law regarding access to birth control. At its first forum in Bangor Tuesday evening, the five panelists said even teens who come from families that talk openly about sex are uncomfortable telling their parents about their sexual activity. "Cause that's just developmentally where they're at; they can't talk about sex because it is weird. And that’s totally appropriate, actually, having that privacy." Eric Brown is a family physician at Eastern Maine Medical Center. He and the other panelists emphasized two statistics: Fifty-five percent of teens are sexually active by the time they turn 18; and 80 percent of teens say they would not get birth control if it involved notifying their parents.

 

Above all, the speakers emphasized access to birth control as a public health issue. Again, Kate Brogan. "We now have the fifth lowest teen pregnancy rate in the country. The Federal Centers for Disease Control came in in the ‘90s to find out what Maine was doing right. And one of the things that they found was such great access to reproductive health care services for teens."

 

The Family planning Association is trying to gather support from people around the state, including parents and teens. Teens like Deirdre Birbeck. "Hi, I'm Deirdre Birbeck and I go to Unity College and I'm a teen. I'm 18. I've seen the impact that family planning has not only on myself but on a lot of my friends, most of them, actually. And I’ve seen things that have happened because they haven’t been open enough with their parents, or they haven’t had a car, or a ride to go to Family Planning. I’ve had to go into the bathroom after school and help them with their pregnancy kits."

 

The Catholic Diocese of Portland says it will support a bill that involves parents in their child's decision to use birth control. Marc Mutty is director of public affairs for the Catholic Diocese. He points out that minor females in Maine can also obtain an abortion without parental consent. "The traditional argument that we hear from those who support parental rights was saying that a child isn't even allowed to have their ears pierced without parental permission, however, they can get an abortion without parental notification and most people don't see the logic in that."

 

Also in support of changing the law is the Maine Family Policy Council, formerly the Christian Civic League of Maine. Mike Heath says the organization would support Smith's bill if it resembles his previous draft. "The matter of the age was of deep concern to many Mainers and to us. We're talking about children under the age of consent, which in Maine is, I think, 14."

 

At the forum in Bangor, no one spoke in opposition to the law but one audience member asked whether doctors and nurses notify the state Department of Health and Human Services when a patient under the age of 14 is sexually active with an adult. The physicians and nurses on the panel responded that they do report those cases as required by law.

 

The Family Planning Association of Maine plans to hold more forums in Augusta, Biddeford, Calais, Lewiston, Rockland and South Paris. The specific locations, dates and times have yet to be determined, but they'll be posted on the Web site, mainefamilyplanning.org.