A high school in Los Angeles with high rates of teenage pregnancy has partnered with Planned Parenthood to offer free birth control and emergency contraception in a clinic on the school’s campus. The clinic at Roosevelt High School, a school in a low income neighborhood of Los Angeles, serves as a primary care clinic, though administrators estimate that half of the services it provides are related to reproductive health. Besides offering contraception, the clinic offers STD testing and pregnancy testing.
The clinic has been met with little resistance, and clinic officials say that the students’ parents are glad their children have access to these services. Sue Dunlap, executive director of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, said “we really don’t experience the traditional narrative of angry parents not wanting access to reproductive care in the schools. It’s really the opposite.” The students are also grateful for the access; as one student told the Los Angeles Times, “Just knowing you can come somewhere to get birth control just feels good. It’s a relief.”
The high school offered contraception and counseling services from 1997 until 2006, when a partnership with a local hospital ended. The new partnership with Planned Parenthood was established after pregnancy rates in the high school spiked. Since the establishment of the clinic after 2008, the number of pregnancies at Roosevelt has dropped.
Los Angeles Times 6/5/12; CBS Local 6/5/12; ABC Local 6/5/12
