High school condom dispensers

Access to condoms just got a whole lot easier for high schoolers in Philadelphia.

In an effort to curb the spread of sexually transmitted diseases between students, 22 public high schools in Philadelphia have installed condom dispensers.

“It’s a self-service setup so you can actually walk into the nurse’s office, and there is a dispenser on the wall and you just help yourself to them,” school district spokesman Fernando Gallard said in an MSN News article.

Parents can apparently opt out of the program if they don’t want their children having access to the free condoms, according to the school district.

According to the news article, the schools were selected for the program based on a report by the city’s health department that showed rising rates of some sexually transmitted diseases among students.

“STD rates amongst youth in Philadelphia have been alarming, especially the increases in gonorrhea and chlamydia since early 2010,” the health department said in a statement.

I’ve heard quite a bit lately about dispensers filled with sexual health items.

There’s the bar in Mankato, Minn., selling pregnancy tests in the women’s bathroom, and the vending machines at Shippensburg University in central Pennsylvania dispensing Plan B birth control.

But back to the condom dispensers in high schools. What do you think? Should schools provide free condoms to their students?