SHOCKINGLY AWFUL: Free contraceptives to be handed out at 22 US schools in 2013

What is your viewpoint? Is this a case of the US State going too far (again) in the mandatory state raising of US children? Or is this a welcome way to curb STD's in US youth?

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...lLinksEnabled=false&google_editors_picks=true

The Philadelphia 'Freedom Condom' design won a contest sponsored by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. The winning design will be featured on over a million condoms, which will be given out for free in Philadelphia-- including in 22 public high schools.

One-third of Philadelphia’s high schoolers will get a holiday surprise when they come back from winter break.

Free condoms.

Twenty-two high schools in the Philadelphia school district are placing clear plastic condom dispensers in student health offices. The condoms will be available to all students and are free for the taking. But there’s a catch — nurses aren’t allowed to give condoms to teens whose parents have opted them out of the program.

The initiative targets Philadelphia high schools where teens have the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections, according to Dr. Donald F. Schwarz, Philadelphia’s health commissioner and deputy mayor for health and opportunity.

“Less than 60 percent of kids who are sexually active report having used condoms the last time they had sex,” Dr. Schwarz told the Daily News. “We want to get to that 40 percent who haven’t used a condom.”

Parents received letters from the school district and from Dr. Schwarz, alerting them to new program. Parents who don’t want their kids to participate can send a letter or call their school’s principal. The principal will make this list available to nurses. The condom dispensers will be placed inside school health offices, so students who are on the opt-out list won’t be able to take condom from the dispensers.

Dr. Schwarz did not have any information about how many parents have alread opted out.

Twelve of the 22 schools have already had condom distribution programs running for the past 20 years. The district hopes to make condoms accessible to a larger number of students through the new dispenser program.

The male condoms up for grabs are the Philly-branded Freedom Condoms, similar to the NYC Condoms distributed by Mayor Bloomberg’s office.

The seeds for this initiative were planted back in 2010, when the city saw an almost 50% increase of gonorrhea among young people and a similar increase in chlamydia. One out of four people who get infected by HIV in Philadelphia is between the ages of 13 and 24, according to Dr. Schwarz. At the same time, a report from the Centers for Disease Control noted that condom rates were decreasing among Philadelphia’s adolescents.

In April 2011, the city launched takecontrolphilly.org, a website that provides sexual health information for teens and their parents. Teens can also use the site to mail-order condoms.

“For the first time in four years, we saw a decline in STIs among adolescents by 5 to 6 percent,” Dr. Schwarz said.

The program is sparking debate, at times within the same family.

“That’s a good idea because kids are sexually active,” mother Elizabeth Lucero from West Philadelphia told My Fox Philly.

But her husband disagreed.

“It’s kind of like promoting it, a way of advertising sex,” said Marvin Lucero.

Although he doesn’t want to discount the feelings of people who disagree, Dr. Schwarz said the idea that giving out condoms will encourage youth to have sex is an “old wives tale.”

“There is no evidence in this country or in any other country that has studied this that making contraception or condoms available in any way increases the rate of sexual behavior among young people,” Dr. Schwarz said.

Philadelphia’s Mayor Michael Nutter heartily endorses the high-school initiative.

“We’re trying to build an education program and provide something that some young people who, having made a decision to engage in sex, should want to have rather than not,” Mark McDonald, Mayor Nutter’s press secretary, told the Daily News.

Around 418 public schools in the United States makes condoms accesible to students, according to Advocates for Youth, a sexual health organization that focuses on young people.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends making condoms accessible to sexually active teens. The CDC has found that condom distribution programs are effective in delaying the start of sexual activity, increasing condom use and reducing STDs in youth.

 

I'm actually torn. On one hand I prefer that to oral contraceptives as it provides birth control and disease prevention, but its not the "state's" duty to raise children.

 

I agree. Also there is something to be said for accidental birth.?.. It is a part of nature, and we are talking about human existence... When you mess with nature, people who would have existed would not.

 

There was a condom bowl at the health office in my old high school. I really don't see the issue. Better they use condoms than not.

 

It's the Right Wing drama queen lack of advanced thinking.

Everyone knows, the undeducated breed the uneducated. They also know the uneducated breed at a younger age. They even know the uneducated are the most likely to be on welfare.

But for some reason they can't make the connection of EDUCATING the uneducated or even giving the uneducated condomns to prevent the welfare babies.

It's time the Right Wing sits down and does some advanced thinking instead of just spitting on others who think...

 

Bump. Between stopping the seed from being planted and tearing the sapling out the ground, I'd go with the former.