D.C. to Offer STD Tests In Every High School

[ccharles000]

D.C. school officials are planning to offer tests for sexually transmitted diseases to all high school students in the coming school year, expanding a pilot program that uncovered a significant number of infected children.
This Story

The program conducted last year at eight high schools found that 13 percent of about 3,000 students tested positive for an STD, mostly gonorrhea or chlamydia, according to the D.C. Department of Health.

The expansion places D.C. public schools in the vanguard of a growing number of urban school districts that test adolescents for STDs. About 12,000 students attend public high schools in the District.

STDs are of particular concern to AIDS activists because they increase the risk of contracting HIV. The testing program was hailed in a report being released Wednesday by the D.C. Appleseed Center for Law and Justice as a positive step in the city's effort to arrest its growing AIDS rate, which is the highest in the nation and is considered an epidemic. Half of the city's cases of chlamydia and gonorrhea are among adolescents.

The program, which has been discussed by the D.C. school board, requires students to attend a lecture about STDs, but they can opt out of providing a urine sample for the test. All 50 states and the District allow minors older than 12 to be screened for STDs without parental consent.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/04/AR2009080403402.html?sid%3DST2009080403578

[ccharles000]

1. kick

[marmar]

2. K&R

Kudos to the DC schools for pragmatic decision-making.

[csziggy]

3. K&R

[stevedeshazer]

4. This is a very good thing, but the right-wing nuts will be all over this story..

Hordes of anti-abortion, anti-sex, anti-anything freaks will descend upon this thread, or any other similar undertaking with the fervor of the perverts who love the fetus but babies and moms and dads, not so much.

Nevertheless, STD screening makes perfect sense from a societal point of view. Are the Republicans in favor of spreading disease?

For cryin' out loud, can't people separate their sexual hangups from disease control?

Thanks for posting this, ccharles000.

[SleeplessInAlabama]

5. To take the other side of the argument...

How long until the tests are mandatory and we start suspending cheerleaders for fucking?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. 32.23465 months.

Right before we implant babies with satellite tracking chips, and unleash the happy gas via chemtrails.

[and-justice-for-all]

6. K&R!!!

[Ocracoker16]

8. Sounds like a good idea to me

I definitely think that this could help prevent further spread of STDs. It is especially important for DC since the city has very high rates of STDs.

[ccharles000]

9. kick

[SoCalDem]

10. a good ad for this would be...

Want grandkids someday?
That STD your kid's infected with might not manifest itself until sterility has set in.
Maybe they're afraid to tell you they might need to see a doctor, and they can't afford to pay for it themselves.