Birth control pills and patches will be given to middle school girls in Portland, Maine who want them. Condoms have long been available at school health centers but it took a recent spike in the number of pregnancies to persuade school officials that it was time to offer the pill to girls as young as 11 in hopes of curbing unwanted pregnancies.

Although there are no figures on how many middle schools in America offer contraception to girls aged 11 to 13, one health official called it a rare situation.

King Middle School has made condoms available since 2002 to students in the sixth through eighth grades that have parental permission to use the school health center, according to reports.

There have been 17 pregnancies in Portland's three middle schools during the past four years and this year five of the 134 students who visited the King Middle School health center told the nurse that they had had sexual intercourse, CNN reported.