What parents need to know?
Under Washington State laws students at any age can get advice about reproductive services and receive birth control pills without parental consent at a teen health center at Ballard High School and other schools in King County. The health centers collaborate through partnerships between the school districts, health care providers and Seattle/King County Public Health.
Some of the laws were established nearly 20 years ago and school clinics in Seattle and Highline school districts have been operating under them for several years. It came as an unwelcome revelation for one West Seattle mother.
"These teen clinics are reproductive clinics that happen to do sports physicals," said Mary Locke, whose 13-year-old daughter attends Madison Middle School where one of the clinics is located.
Locke said she doesn't like the idea of a public institution schooling her daughter on reproductive health care.
Most centers require parents to sign a permission form to allow students to access services like sports physicals and immunizations.
