Playing it safe
Students at all Boston public high schools will soon be able to obtain free condoms on campus as long as they sit through a few minutes of counseling about safe sex under a policy approved by the school board.
Condoms are already available in 19 high schools with on-site health centers. The policy, endorsed on a 5-0 vote by the Boston School Committee, expands distribution to all 32 high schools and their 17,000 students. Parents will have the right to exempt their children.
Several US urban districts, including New York and los Angeles, have already made condoms widely available in high schools. So do many suburban school districts around Boston.
The expansion in Boston will not cost the district anything since the contraception is donated by public health agencies, district spokesman lee McGuire said. Schools will distribute the condoms on request, after a brief counseling session with the nurse or another staff member.
The Archdiocese of Boston issued a statement calling condom distribution misguided, but did not organise formal protests.