By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Writer A new law aimed at stripping federal funding from any school that dispenses the morning after pill to students under the age of 18 is making its way through Congress. Currently, more than 180 public high school and middle schools dispense the drug without parental notification. The proposed law, entitled the Schoolchildren’s Health Protection Act (H.R.6453) was introduced by Representative Doug Lamborn (R-CO), and will prohibit schools that receive federal funds from dispensing the morning-after-pill to children without their parents knowledge. Current law permits public high- and middle school-based health clinics that receive federal funds under Medicaid, SCHIP or Title X to distribute any contraceptive, including the morning after pill, without parental notification. “This is a potentially life changing decision when someone takes the morning after pill because, as you know, it can cause abortion,” Congressman Lamborn said during a recent radio interview with Concerned Women of America. “Parents should be involved in this decision and right now the policy excludes talking to parents.” This practice also causes serious health risks for children, explained Wendy Wright, President of Concerned Women for America. “We’ve seen with that the birth control pill, which is a low dose of the morning after pill, can cause serious side affects, such as blood clots, strokes, heart attacks, and that’s the reason why it’s prescription only,” Wright said. “A woman has to have a medical exam before a doctor can give her even a low dose of this drug. And yet a high dose of the same drug can be handed out in public schools without parent’s info or knowledge.” Cutting parents out of the picture also means eliminating the people who are most aware of a child’s medical history and who are the most likely know if they have any condition that might make the drug unsafe for them to use. “That’s another reason why we don’t want to cut parents out of the decision-making process,” Lamborn said. “The parents are the one’s who are responsible for their child. Historically, that’s the way families are. That’s the way Scripture has created families. There’s a role for mothers and fathers. They have responsibility for their children and just to cut them out for political correctness, saying that any thing having to do with abortion is totally protected above everything else and that no other considerations matter, is just not right.” The new law will put a stop to this dangerous practice. H.R. 6453 says that “no funds shall be made available from any applicable program to a State educational agency or local educational agency that distributes or provides to an unemancipated minor, on the premises or in the facilities of an elementary school or secondary school, postcoital emergency contraception (such as the so-called `morning-after pill') or a prescription for such contraception.” Any school that does so will lose all federal funding. The bill currently has 41 co-sponsors and was referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor on July 10. Call your representative today at 202-224-3121 and encourage them to support the Schoolchildren's Health Protection Act (H.R. 6453).   © All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly/Women of Grace. http://www.womenofgrace.com   Knowing when and how to discuss the "birds and the bees" with children is a challenge every parent will face sooner or later. In "Birds, Bees, Love and Parenting," our expert gives you guidance on how to meet these challenges. Available in our store at: http://womenofgrace.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=471