School Supplied Condoms

In the early 1990s, prompted by the AIDS crisis and a surge in teenage pregnancies, some U.S. schools began considering and implementing policies which allowed for distribution of condoms to students. Although the number of schools that supplied condoms was relatively small—in 1995, about 2.2% of public high schools—the backlash was considerable. Primary objections came from parents and educators who worried that providing condoms would encourage young people to become sexually active, and suggested that sexual education was outside the scope of public school responsibility.

Policies were somewhat more defined in 2010, with limited, regulated condom distribution at a greater number of schools. The controversy remains, however: does handing out condoms encourage sexual activity, or prevent disease and pregnancy among a vulnerable demographic? Is sex ed a school responsibility or the realm of the parents only? Whether a question of morality or practicality, condom distribution in schools continues to be controversial.