Vermont has become the first state to require that all public middle and high schools have free condoms available for students in the school nurse’s office. While the initiative was passed by Governor Phil Scott last year, its rollout has just recently been fully implemented. According to Today Health, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England is responsible for providing the contraception. Planned Parenthood has, in the past, been rated poorly on the effectiveness of its condoms.
The state’s statute reads:
In order to prevent or reduce unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, each school district shall make condoms available to all students in its secondary schools, free of charge. School district administrative teams, in consultation with school district nursing staff, shall determine the best manner in which to make condoms available to students. At a minimum, condoms shall be placed in locations that are safe and readily accessible to students, including the school nurse’s office.
Schools are also required to give students information about how to use condoms properly. And, according to Fox News, all this can be done without a parent’s knowledge. Guidance from the Vermont Agency of Education states, “Minors in Vermont have a legal right to access a full range of reproductive and sexual health services without parent permission. Minors are provided access to condoms in a variety of settings and may purchase them without parental consent.” The minimum age of sexual consent in Vermont is set at 16. While there are some “close in age” exceptions, students in middle school are well below this age — approximately 13 and younger, unable to legally consent to sexual activity — yet they will be entitled to receive condoms at school.
READ: Parents enraged as Planned Parenthood school flyer promotes sex to 11-year-olds
Planned Parenthood is championing the new law.
“Condom availability programs increase condom use, increase condom carrying behavior, promote abstinence or delayed sexual initiation among adolescents, and reduce STD rates,” claimed Lucy Leriche, vice president of Vermont public affairs for Planned Parenthood, in an article by Today Health. “Studies of school condom availability programs find a significant increase in condom use among sexually active students but no increase in sexual activity.”
Despite Leriche’s claims, there is no evidence that offering condoms to children promotes abstinence or delayed sexual activity. If anything, the opposite is true — as Live Action News has previously reported, 16 studies have shown that comprehensive sex education programs have negative effects on sexual health and sexual behavior among teens, including increases in teen sexual activity and other risky behavior. Another study found that access to condoms in schools increased teen pregnancy by about 10%. This is unsurprising, given that condoms have a typical failure rate of about 13%.
Former Planned Parenthood staffers have spoken about why the abortion giant is pushing to increase contraceptive access to children in schools. “Contraception creates a market for abortion by promoting promiscuity and providing men and women a false sense of security against an unintended pregnancy,” Ramona Treviño, a former Planned Parenthood manager, has said. “The more promiscuous people are (especially young people), the more likely they’ll become pregnant. The more people use birth control and adopt a contraceptive mentality, the higher the odds that they’ll seek an abortion.”
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