Alabama clinic's AIDS outreach program suspended

Franklin Primary Health Center in Mobile, Ala., has suspended the activities of its HIV/AIDS outreach team after hearing complaints that staff members handed out contraceptives to teenagers at the Senior Bowl, a college football event held last weekend in Mobile. Vinicky Bryant of Moss Point, Miss., said her 16-year-old daughter and her daughter's boyfriend attended the game and encountered health center staff in the parking lot of Ladd-Peebles Stadium. She said the couple was handed bags containing condoms, a tube of nonspermicidal lubricant, and a card reading, "The perfect nightcap, compliments of Franklin Primary Health Center." Center CEO Charles White said he did not know about the language on the business cards or the plan to distribute the packets at the game. White said he has suspended the activities of the health center's HIV/AIDS outreach team until he can examine its plans for future outreach efforts.