California Bill Requiring Schools to Provide Free Condoms to Middle and High Schoolers Advances

Students walk to their classrooms at a public middle school in Los Angeles, on Sept. 10, 2021. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

A state Senate bill that would require schools to provide free condoms to all 7th to 12th grade California students passed the state Senate floor on a 31–9 vote on May 31.

State Sen. Caroline Menjivar (D-San Fernando Valley) introduced Senate Bill 541 in February to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections among youth.

The bill has now been referred to the Assembly.

If ultimately passed there and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, the bill would require all public schools to make “internal and external” condoms available to students in middle and high school free and ensure students are aware of the availability.

The bill would also ban retailers from refusing to sell contraception based on age, and prevent them from requiring identification for proof of age.

Prior to the vote, Menjivar cited recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that indicated that youth make up the majority of sexually transmitted infection cases, with HPV being the most common among youth.

Students walk to their classrooms at a public middle school in Los Angeles on Sept. 10, 2021. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

Additionally, 2019 data from the CDC showed that an average of 38 percent of high school students nationwide were sexually active, and only 54 percent used condoms during intercourse.

“[Requiring ID for condoms] is not deterring individuals from practicing sex, it’s actually pushing them to practice unsafe sex,” Menjivar said during the hearing.

Menjivar additionally said during a March senate education committee meeting that the bill aims to instill “safe” sexual habits.

“While abstinence is, as we know, the only 100 percent effective way to prevent a [sexually transmitted infection], we know some teens are still engaging in sexual activity,” she said. “We want to make sure when that teenager makes that personal decision, they have the resources to stay safe.”

The bill is supported by several health and youth advocacy organizations, including the AIDs Healthcare Foundation, the California Coalition for Youth, the California Federation of Teachers, and the California Teachers’ Association.

Condom Access Not the Answer to Sexually Transmitted Infections: Critics

Those in opposition to the bill, however, argue that making condoms more accessible is not the answer to the issue of sexually transmitted infections among teens.

Greg Burt, with the California Family Council, a public policy advocacy group, said during the March hearing that he thought the state’s sexual health policies in recent years have inadvertently caused a rise in sexually transmitted infections.

“For the last decade or more this legislative body has been pushing condoms as the solution to sexually transmitted infections spreading among our youth,” Burt said. “And each time the infection rate rose, [legislators] insisted kids just need easier access to condoms and information about safe sex at younger and younger ages.”

He urged the committee to rethink the issue, advocating instead for the state to uphold the ideal of abstinence until marriage.

“It is time to tell young people the truth, that those with the most fulfilling and healthy sex lives are those who treat sex as a special and intimate act to be shared in a monogamous, committed marriage,” he said. “I’m not encouraging you to shame people. But hold up abstinence until marriage as a noble ideal. [Sexually transmitted infections] can’t thrive in a culture that idealizes marriage.”