There’s always been a debate on whether condoms should be given out to college and high school students. Some agree and plenty disagree. When it comes to my opinion, I think it’s a great idea. First, young women today are becoming pregnant at even younger ages than before. It used to be a problem when 18 year olds were getting pregnant.
Now it has gotten to the point that “16 and Pregnant” was created to try to show young girls that it’s not as easy raising a baby as these girls think it might be.Teens who cannot afford to buy condoms or feel uncomfortable buying them themselves could just get them from school. This is easier for them and will prevent diseases from being spread.
I know a lot of people don’t agree with this, but if you really think about it, just handing out a simple form of protection could save someone’s life.
Condoms should be handed out in school because regardless if the condoms are given out or not, kids are having sex anyway. So why not take a precaution and prevent STIs and pregnancy. A lot of parents say that it’s a bad idea giving them out because they are basically condoning that it’s okay to have sex. On the other hand, I think that if they don’t there could be a bad outcome and then the parent would have wished that they did. If I were a parent, I would rather have the condoms distributed because it’s better to be safe than sorry. At least you know that when the kids are having sex, they will have protection to help them in the long run.
To get on a deeper note, condoms being distributed can also reduce the numbers of unwanted abortions that teens get because they’re not ready for a child or simply they just don’t want to keep the baby. I also think that handing out condoms might make teens more comfortable with asking any questions that they have about sex.
In an article I read on an HIV website, it stated before 2002 globally, an estimated 11.8 million young people aged 15-24 were living with HIV. That was nine years ago, so now it’s probably even worse (UCSF 2011). Now it’s 2011. So just think about how many more teens are being affected by this. To be on the safe side, the condoms should be given out. People should not be focused on whether it is bad or not, instead, they should focus on safety. There is a very high chance that if you do not use protection your health will probably be affected one way or the other. I would rather be safe than sorry and hand them out. It’s better to know that teens are having sex with protection, instead of knowing they’re having sex without it and putting themselves at a serious risk.
