Public health nurses working in high schools in Montreal have been helping students to have abortions during school hours, without informing their parents. Reporters from La Presse recently discovered that the practice has been going on for some time and that the nurses claim that a section of the Public Health Safety Act gives minors of 14 or older the right to obtain abortions without parental consent. In some cases, the nurses don’t even inform the schools’ administrations of the reasons for the student’s absence from classes.
“The practice occurs notably in certain schools of the Montreal Catholic School Board (CECM), but also in schools of the other boards on Montreal Island,” wrote André Pratte of La Presse in a front page story on December 20.
Schools are required to contact parents when students are absent from class. In certain schools, however, a letter from the nurse is all that is required to explain a student’s absence, even if it only bears the word “consultation.” The school administration then considers the absence to be “justified” and doesn’t call the parents. This is often the case when a student has to go to a CLSC (community health centre), a hospital or a clinic for an abortion.
“In other schools, the nurse just has to ask the person who checks attendance (secretary, teacher-guidance counselor, or vice-principal) not to inform the parents about the absence of the student involved. The nurse tells this person the reason for the absence, and it is agreed not to call home. Sometimes she doesn’t have to provide the details,” La Presse reported.
School nurses cite Section 42 of the Public Health Safety Act in their defence: “An institution or doctor may provide the medical care or treatment required by the state of health of a minor 14 years or older with their consent and without the consent of the parent or guardian.”
Section 42 worries the Jérôme-Le Royer School Board. Last year, a nurse working in one of the Board’s schools, asked the school to permit a student to be absent from classes (without informing the parents) so that she could have an abortion at Saint-Justine Hospital. The principal refused permission asking, “how can you justify not telling the parents when their child obtains an abortion through the school? It’s like telling the parents, “Once you’ve entrusted your children to us, we don’t tell you what happens to them any more.”
Reason for absence
The Jérôme-Le Royer Board has now sent a directive to all its schools stating that more than a nurse’s letter is required if a student is to be absent from classes. Principals are required to ask the school nurse the reason for the absence; if it is for “medical care for a pregnancy,” the parents will be notified except in “exceptional cases.” By “exceptional” is meant “where the physical or mental health of the child is in danger,” and it is up to the principal to decide whether or not parental notification is appropriate after discussing the case with the school’s “health care staff (psychologist, social worker and nurse.)
Montreal School Commission lawyer Yves Carrière pointed out that schools have an obligation under the Education Act to notify parents of a student’s absence from classes. He also noted that schools could be held legally responsible for any injuries suffered by the child if the parents are not notified.
School nurses, however, don’t like having to give reasons which, they argue, violates their professional code of confidentiality. Section 42, they say, forbids them from informing either the school or the parents without the student’s consent.
All the nurses interviewed by La Presse said they try to persuade the student to talk to her parents but, if the student refuses, they would arrange for her to have an abortion. And, it appears, many nurses would inform the principal only if they know the parents won’t be contacted. One nurse suggested that the students would always find a way to get around rules concerning parental notification, such as producing a forged note.
“It’s already being done,” she said. Another added, “If she doesn’t want her parents to find out, I’ll work out a solution. I’ll certainly cover for her.”
It seems that Montreal parents should be asking themselves, “Do we know what our daughters did in school today?”
