Let's take a look at the recent article bashing the Teen Plus Clinic here in Newnan. It was written by Vicki Hughes, in support of the recent closing of the Teen Plus Clinic in Carroll County.

To review, Ms. Hughes states that nurses at the Teen Plus Clinic... "write prescriptions" ... and are giving out the "morning after pill." It is illegal for registered nurses to write prescriptions and there is no such thing as a "morning after pill" available at the Teen Plus Clinic. The medications dispensed are only given out after extensive counseling per strict protocol for sexually active individuals (who refuse to consider the option of abstinence). Medications are also dispensed for sexually transmitted diseases discovered through physical exam and lab testing.

The physical exams the nurses perform at the Teen Plus Clinic are, again, done only on sexually active individuals. Many of the teens are only there for information and counseling. Often these teens are accompanied by their mothers. Many of the sexually transmitted diseases discovered through testing, can be treated, again by strict protocol. Some of these diseases we cannot treat, such as the lifelong and often life-threatening herpes, genital warts and AIDS. If your teen doesn't know about these possible repercussions of premarital and unprotected sex, then how can we prevent these diseases from attacking your teen?

My favorite statement from Ms. Hughes was that... "pregnancy is one of the least of the problems that our children face..." Pregnancy for a teen is not the least of their problems. Teenagers who are pregnant face the increased possibility of low-birth weight babies, premature delivery, pregnancy induced hypertension and postpartum complications. Never mind the increased burden on the taxpayers who have to pay for all the additional and future care of these babies.

And let's look at the statistics for the repeat pregnancies to these same teens. These teens are now "mini-adults." They have children and are not considering abstinence as an option for them despite counseling and encouragement. For these teens, the goal of the Teen Plus Clinic has been to counsel and reduce repeat teen pregnancies and to offer options to return to school, join the work force and ultimately break the cycle.

Few, if any of these teens attend church services, they do not get this information or support at home, and if they go to school they can't talk about it there. Why can't at least the high schools offer assemblies to provide both parents and teens with the communication skills necessary to discuss these issues at home, where many people believe it should be?

Okay, so the Teen Clinic in Carroll county is now closed. Will all these "Christians" who closed that clinic be reaching out to the confused, misinformed, and repeat teen moms who have less than a twelfth grade education, are unemployed and have no father of the baby or other means of support? What are they doing for these teens now? It will be interesting to see what the teen pregnancy rates in Carroll County do. If they've not made plans to assist these teens, they had better get moving because now we're all watching.

Another question: Isn't it better that a teen be responsible enough to discuss his or her questions or concerns with a trained professional, whose goal is to encourage teens to involve their family in their options and to educate the teens into seeing the benefits of abstinence both for moral and health reasons? Or would you rather your teens find the answers to their questions in the back seat of a car?

While the majority remain silent, these misguided and misinformed individuals make a mess of things with their inflammatory and inaccurate statements, and then they leave. Will this rebuttal to Ms. Hughes' letter change the minds of these individuals? I doubt it. But before any more of you "bash" the Teen Plus Clinic as the work of the devil himself, get your facts straight. Your questions, including visits to the Teen Plus Clinic are welcome. Become involved, and what is more important, be informed.

Differences of opinion are a fact of life and, thankfully, change is inevitable. Ultimately, don't we all want what is best for our children? Hopefully, one day we will no longer need a teen clinic. And perhaps, the only good to come from Ms. Hughes' letter will be that parents will refocus their attention on their teens lives. After all, if your teen is using birth control and you do not know about it, whose fault is it really?