Wow, that's really crazy. She should never have gotten that kind of punishment. It's so backwards.

So, I get that this sucks.  She was being responsible about her sexual health, and it sucks that she got suspended.  But I think we're overreacting a little bit and being slightly unfair to the school district in our immediate condemnation of them.

The high school in question (like many many high schools in the country, including the one that I went to) has a zero-tolerance policy about taking medicine at school.  We may all agree that this policy is absurd, but I think we're simplifying the issue a little too much.  While it sucks that students are not allowed to take pills at school without registering them with the school nurse, that's the policy.  Like many other high school policies, it doesn't convey a very good sense of respecting high school students as young adults who can make responsible decisions.  But the reality is -- that's the rule.  I knew someone in high school get suspended for taking a Tylenol during lunch.  It sucked, but high schools have set up these policies to curb drug use, so they have to apply to everyone.  If students want to take pills at school, they have to do it in the nurse's office.

We keep emphasizing the fact that the student got suspended for taking birth control, but really, she would have been suspended for taking any kind of drug.  The school is, in no way, specifically condemning birth control.  This student isn't being specifically targeted because she has chosen to take birth control.  She was punished for not following school policy -- the same way one of her classmates would have been punished if he/she were caught taking allergy medicine during lunch and not in the nurse's office.

I agree -- these policies are pretty restrictive, and I would completely agree with and support any and all efforts to make public high schools more respectful of students' rights.  I would also agree that the school needs to have a zero-tolerance policy about guns and heroin, so that all of their punishments fit the crime.  But I think we're being too harsh (and quick to judge) the school district.  We can argue that they need to change their policies, but we need to make sure we give them at least some credit -- they're not punishing the student for birth control.  They're punishing her because she didn't follow the rule about registering medication with the school nurse.