CHARLESTON, South Carolina - November 1, 2010 - A Charleston County mother and her 14-year-old daughter were spending some quality time together one Sunday evening when the conversation turned to sex.

She asked her daughter whether she was sexually active, and the Burke High School freshman surprised her with the news that she had sex once. After a few minutes of silence, the mother told her daughter that she wanted to call the family doctor and arrange for her to go on birth control.

This time, her daughter’s response came as an even bigger surprise: a woman at school had taken her to a clinic for a shot that would provide birth control for three months.

The mother, whose name is being withheld to protect her daughter’s identity, said she hadn’t been informed.

“It floored me,” the mother said. “Flabbergasted. Outraged.”

She said her daughter was taken to the clinic by an employee of the Carolina Empowerment Group, a nonprofit community organization whose goal is to increase awareness of and prevent teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS and substance abuse.

The group has an office at Burke High and access to students, but the school district doesn’t pay for its services.

This is a great example of the ever-increasing government intrusion in the lives of our families.  If this were my child I would have headed straight down to that Carolina Empowerment Group and raised the roof straight off that place.  They have absolutely no right whatsoever taking a minor and administering medical services without parental consent.  This is an incredibly dangerous assault to the freedoms of the Amerikan people and parents need to demand that Burke High School bar this organization from further access to the school and its students.

The mother wondered about what would have happened if her daughter had an allergic reaction to the shot or the woman had gotten into a traffic accident. She doesn’t understand why she wasn’t told that this was going to happen or how it’s OK for her daughter to be taken off campus by a stranger.

Excellent question.  Isn’t it ironic how if a child brings an aspirin to school he or she could be suspended or even expelled, but somehow it’s perfectly all right for a complete stranger to transport your child to a medical facility to get a completely voluntary medical procedure without telling her parents?

State law permits health services to be provided to minors of any age without parental consent when it’s deemed necessary

Which was clearly not the case.  We aren’t talking about a life or death situation here.
Burke High appears to be the only school in the county where an organization dedicated to sexual education has office space. With the blessings of district leaders, the school’s principal, Charles Benton, signed an agreement with the nonprofit’s executive director last year setting the guidelines of their partnership.

The mother questioned whether the nonprofit would be allowed to operate out of a school such as Wando High or Academic Magnet, schools with more affluent students. She and her attorney, Larry Kobrovsky, are considering legal action.

“I hope this doesn’t happen to anybody else’s child,” she said. “I don’t think they should be able to do this.”

You’re right, they shouldn’t and this is why you need to sue them, for your child and for every other parent whose child might get molested by this organization the same way yours did.  Sue them right out of existence.

Call and let your voice be heard!  Express your outrage!

Burke High School Principal Charles E. Benton
834-579-4815