Education

Dem Bill Mandates Free Condoms For Teens At Public High Schools

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A piece of California legislation would require public high schools to provide free condoms to students beginning in the 2023-2024 school year.

In addition to requiring high schools to stock free condoms, Senate Bill 541, sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Caroline Menjivar, would ban retailers from refusing to sell non-prescription contraception products to children under 18-years-old. The bill is co-sponsored by GENup, a student-led organization focused on social justice and “educational policy reform.”

“Nobody was really talking about making condoms easily accessible,” Ria Barbaria, co-policy director for GENup, toldThe Seattle Times. “Youth are being discriminated against, they’re being harassed, they’re being shamed for getting contraceptives when it’s just a necessity for their health.”

Under the legislation, school districts would be required to advertise which contraceptives are available on campus and provide resources that correspond with each of the products. Human papillomavirus vaccinations (HPV) for children younger than 18-years-old would be free if the bill is made a law.

For students’ health, the bill aims to make condoms “easily accessible” in order to prevent pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among teens, GENup told The Seattle Times.

“It should be obvious that more condoms are not the solution,” Greg Burt, director of California Family Council, an organization focused on promoting Christian values, told the outlet. “The only sure way to reduce STI rates is to change student sexual activity and the number of sexual partners they have. We have to stop assuming hormonal teens can’t control themselves.”

The California legislature is also considering a piece of legislation that would require public schools’ women and “all-gender” bathrooms, and at least one men’s bathroom, to be stocked with free menstrual products.

“This bill will close the gaps in areas that are more disproportionately impacted by health disparities, areas where the closest health clinic is 50 miles away,” Menjivar told The Seattle Times. “We are making it easier by being a one-stop shop to get access to contraceptives at their school.”

Menjivar and GENup did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.