Posted: 09/24/2012
NEW YORK - The New York City Department of Education is making the morning-after-pill available to high school girls at 13 public schools.
The DOE says girls as young as 14 will be able to get the Plan B emergency contraception without parental consent.
Parents have been notified about the CATCH pilot program and how their daughters can opt out of it.
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn says she supports the program because high school students are sexually active and getting pregnant.
The city says about 7,000 girls get pregnant by the time they reach the age of 17. It says more than half choose to get an abortion.
NYC schools already distribute free condoms to students.
9 News reached out to Cincinnati Public Schools and asked if it would ever provide contraception to its students. CPS said it would "absolutely not" and it does not provide any form of contraception to its students. Public affairs director Janet Walsh told 9 News that if an issue were to arise with a particular student, CPS would notify the parents of that student prior to acting.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.