After a controversial Oct. 17 school committee elected to offer birth control to middle school students in Maine as part of student health services, 67 percent of U.S. adults support the decision, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Nov. 1.

The AP and Ipsos, a global survey-based market research company, took a representative study of U.S. adults by telephone after King Middle School in Portland, Maine, approved the new program, said Michael Gross, associate vice president of Ipsos public affairs.

Last spring King Middle School health center staff looked at the increased sexual activity at the middle school and decided one of the best ways to prevent pregnancy was to make birth control services available to students, said Amanda Rowe, school nurse at King.

The school committee voted seven to two in favor of offering contraceptives to students who wanted them, she said.

"It's just for one small group of students who need birth control services in order to stay in school and keep learning," Rowe said.

But Rowe said parents would have ultimate control over whether or not their child receives birth control.

The committee is currently adding language detailing the new reproductive health services to the enrollment packet for King's school-based health center, an in-school clinic where students can receive primary care services, said Lisa Belanger, program manager for the clinic.

The clinic is run by the Portland Health Department and employs certified physicians and nurse practitioners, Belanger said. It is supplementary to the school nurse's office, she said.

Parents can enroll their children in the clinic and allow their child the option of receiving birth control, Belanger said. Or parents can choose only to use services provided by the King Middle School nurse's office, she said.

Parents will have the opportunity to re-enroll their students in about a month once forms are changed, Rowe said.

Over the last five years there have been 17 pregnancies in the three Portland-area middle schools, she said.

According to the 2005 Maine Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 16 percent of Maine middle school students are sexually active.

The Maine pregnancy rate per 1,000 females aged 10 to 14 was 0.2 in 2004, said John Martins, spokesman for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. Martins said the Maine pregnancy rate for that age group is relatively low.

Even though Maine ranked low in teen pregnancies, Belanger said offering services to students is still important.

"Any pregnancy is one pregnancy too many for a young girl whose life and health are dramatically impacted by an unwanted pregnancy," Belanger said.

Closer to home, Milwaukee Public School officials said they have no plans to offer birth control to middle school students.

Phil Harris, an MPS spokesman, said the issue was entirely too speculative to comment on. He said he had not heard any suggestions that MPS offer birth control even after the approval at King Middle School.

According to the 2005 Wisconsin Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 25 percent of high school students had sexual intercourse at age 15 or younger.

There were 86 births to Wisconsin females under age 15 in 2005 and 92 births in 2006, according to the Wisconsin Bureau of Health Information and Policy.

The Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services does not gather data on the percentage of teens that use contraception, said Rebecca Murray, communications specialist at the department. She added that the best practice for preventing adolescent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections is a multi-pronged approach of education about abstinence, contraception and STIs.

The AP-Ipsos poll also found 51 percent of adults said sex education is the best way to prevent pregnancy. Forty-five percent said morality and abstinence training was the best approach.

The poll results point to how divided the country is on issue of birth control, Gross said.

As with any controversial issue, King Middle School parents have come out both in favor and against providing birth control to students, Belanger said

"For the most part, the parents involved are supportive of this moving forward," Belanger said.