WILLAMINA, Ore. -- The school board in Willamina is divided over whether the school clinic should be allowed to prescribe birth control to students.

The school district split during a vote on a proposal to allow nurses at Willamina High School to prescribe birth control to sexually active students.

The school superintendent said this has been an above average year for teen pregnancies with five births and nine more pregnancies in a school that has 300 students.

Two school board members voted for the proposal and two voted against it. The fifth member of the board didn't attend the meeting and will be asked to cast the deciding vote at the next meeting.

School board member Craig Johnson and a colleague voted for birth control prescriptions.

"I think it should be available. If they don't feel comfortable talking to their parents about sex, they should be able to go to somebody to talk to them in confidence," Johnson said.

If the proposal passed it would mean the school-based health center's nurse practitioner would a write a prescription for contraceptive medications or provide condoms.

Some former students supported the proposal.

"I'd talk to my parents about it, or something. But if they're not doing that, I think they should just give it to them. It's better safe than sorry," Willamina High School graduate Gavin Atkinson said.

But the clinic wouldn't just be passing out birth control. The nurse would also counsel students about the risks involved with their decisions.

"She would take time to sit down with them, talk to them about what they are doing, why they are doing it and what the risks are. Hopefully, another step in prevention, which is indeed the key, or abstinence, excuse me," said Superintendent Gus Forster.

He said the policy recommendation came unanimously from a Yamhill countywide advisory group that includes people who live in Willamina.

The policy states the clinic would provide no "pro-abortion counseling." Prescriptions would be offered to students who say they are sexually active, have a sexually transmitted disease or have parents who request they start birth control.

Ember McAlpin said she became pregnant in high school and is now 25, with four children and no diploma. She said she probably would have used birth control if a school clinic offered it.

"It was really difficult. I actually ended up dropping out," McAlpin said. "It took an opportunity away. I didn't focus all my time on school anymore and made it kind of difficult, I guess."

The two school board members who voted against the birth control policy didn't respond to calls for comment.

The superintendent said he thought those two wanted to get more comment from churches and the community. The members who approve said they won't change their minds.

"You can test for pregnancy and STDs up there but you can't prescribe birth control, and the other two kind of go hand-in-hand with that," Johnson said.

School Board Split On Providing Birth Control