Health Clinic at San Fernando High

I read with amazement and chagrin the article (July 23) by Pamela Moreland regarding the grant to San Fernando High School for a clinic that will dispense contraceptives and birth control counseling--in a community that does not want the clinic on religious grounds, as well as sociocultural reasons.

Why would an institution, in this case the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (the nation’s largest underwriter of school-based clinics), insist on making this grant where it is not wanted? Do they think they know better than the community and the parents who have the right to make that decision?

Who has given the schools the right to take over the morals of these children? Who are they to impose their values on our children? How can a grown-up person decide that a 12-, 13- or 14-year-old could have the experience necessary to make decisions that even to adults seem difficult?

Among juveniles, the leading cause of death after car accidents is suicide. Suicide has risen 30% over the past 20 years among teen-agers. This alarming rate can be largely traced to early teen sex, which is the squandering of the energies in the individual at a time when these should be channeled into constructive goals leading to responsible adulthood.

Giving a contraceptive to a child, telling him about abortion or family planning, is like speaking Greek to a Roman. They will not understand. What could they possibly know of the long-range consequences of their behavior? Cannot the school teach the child how important it is to learn to be accountable for one’s own life and give the understanding of choices to be made? Cannot the school also reinforce the family and their values?

CARMEN L. BARROWS

Calabasas