Power to the Nurses!
Quebec has given their school nurses power to do more than just apply bandages and give out Advil; they can now prescribe birth control pills.
It's all in an effort to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies in the province. Quebec's rate of pregnancies in girls aged 15 - 19 is slightly higher than the national rate, and better access to birth control could remedy that.
The prescription from school nurses will be for three months, after which the young women will have to go to the doctor's for a check-up if they want refills.
In a story today in the Globe and Mail, Dr. Abby Lippman, co-chair of the Canadian Women's Health Network is quoted as saying:
"The more readily available you can make birth control for women and girls, the better off they will be. . . . It's unfortunate this policy doesn't exist across Canada."
It's all in an effort to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies in the province. Quebec's rate of pregnancies in girls aged 15 - 19 is slightly higher than the national rate, and better access to birth control could remedy that.
The prescription from school nurses will be for three months, after which the young women will have to go to the doctor's for a check-up if they want refills.
In a story today in the Globe and Mail, Dr. Abby Lippman, co-chair of the Canadian Women's Health Network is quoted as saying:
"The more readily available you can make birth control for women and girls, the better off they will be. . . . It's unfortunate this policy doesn't exist across Canada."
Dr. Lippman, I second that emotion.
posted by Hailey Dai @ 8:59 p.m.
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