Four years ago, Rebecca Liu of Roanoke took her then 9-year-old daughter to Planned Parenthood.

The visit wasn't for contraception but to help her young daughter better understand menstruation. For Liu, talking openly and frankly to her daughter, now a 13-year-old middle schooler, about the girl's maturing body and all that comes with it is her parental responsibility.

That's why Liu believes a decision at a Portland, Maine, middle school to make birth control pills and patches available to girls as young as 11 is "a ridiculous notion." Condoms have been available at the school's health center since 2000.

"I would rather the school focus on the core subjects," said Liu, a nurse. "It's my job as a mother to inform my daughter."

Excellent point.

If parents don't like the idea of schools' doling out pills, patches and condoms to their children -- and certainly there are plenty reasons why they wouldn't -- there's a remedy: talking to their kids about sex -- and its consequences.

"The missing component here is schools would not need to intervene if all parents were diligent and comfortable in speaking to their children," said David Nova, vice president of Planned Parenthood Health Systems.

"From a public health perspective, it sounds like the school is doing a good job focusing on prevention," he said.

Whether adults want to accept it or not, some kids in middle school are having sex. The trend among young people, according to Nova, is to engage in sex acts other than intercourse.

According to the Virginia Public Health Department, the statewide pregnancy rate for girls under age 15 was 1 per 1,000 in 2005.

In Roanoke, the rate was 3 per 1,000, compared with 0.7 per 1,000 in Roanoke County and 2.8 per 1,000 in Salem.

The Portland issue raises a number of red flags. First, 11-year-olds shouldn't be having sex. The fact they are raises questions about whether older boys or men are manipulating them. And those guys should go to jail.

Second, making birth control available at school for 11-year-olds is more than I'm willing to endorse. For such sexually active youngsters unable to talk to their parents, Planned Parenthood can help the youngsters make informed decisions.

In Maine, the school health center requires parental permission to use the health center. But once parents give their OK, treatment is confidential.

Nova said health care workers in the majority of states are prohibited by law from sharing a minor's routine family-planning information with parents. The exceptions, he added, include abortion or sterilization.

Liu said the Maine school board's decision raises moral as well as medical issues for her.

Morally, she asked, "Why are we giving birth control pills to our children? They're still children, they're not ready for sex."

Medically, she said, some girls may be unaware they have conditions that aren't conducive to oral contraceptives.

Timothy Zimmerman of Roanoke didn't know about the Maine middle school.

"That's a little young," the Roanoke dad said as he dropped off his son Monday at Ruffner Middle School.

"Come to me," he said of his 13-year-old son. "That's where it really needs to start."

Or as Liu aptly concluded, "I'd rather be the one to tell my daughter than someone else."

Shanna Flowers' column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

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