At the end of 2023, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill requiring free access to condoms in all California public high schools, citing the state’s ongoing “economic risk and revenue uncertainty” as the main reason. However, these teenagers’ inability to take proper care of their sexual health is the more expensive choice.
The benefits for the students are obvious: they would receive the protection they need from STIs and unplanned pregnancies for no cost and in a subtle and nonjudgmental way. This protection is especially important today as the demise of Roe v. Wade still dictates everything from state political decisions to personal biases and the confidence to voice them.
Cases of STIs have been rising in California for nearly a decade now, especially in teens and young adults. This makes the decision to have unprotected sex a potentially life-altering one, but one that is made all the more frequently with the difficulty of access for some people, especially young people. In a survey, approximately 45% of adolescent girls in the United States reported having two or more sexual partners in the past year, as well as just over 50% of adolescent boys.
While California has long since required sex education to be included in the public school curriculum, there is still opposition to the requirement. The curriculum is required to include information on abstinence. There is also the school’s requirement to provide information regarding the curriculum to parents ahead of time, and parents are then allowed to opt-out. The ease with which information can be withheld makes it all too easy for students to be susceptible to misconceptions that lead to unwanted pregnancies, unhealthy relationships and STIs.
STIs can often be asymptomatic but result in long-term health problems. HIV, for example, has symptoms that may not present themselves until 10 or more years after contraction, including persistent fatigue, headaches and ease of infections. Syphilis is also an infection that can be asymptomatic and, if left untreated, can cause paralysis, blindness and dementia.
This is a major health problem for the people affected and could also negatively impact the state. Low-income students, who would be the ones to benefit the most from better sexual education and protection programs, will likely be on some form of medicare program in the coming years when these health problems are manifesting. This means that the state would be paying the medical bills that are made necessary because of this lack of protection they caused. Given that buying in bulk can cost as low as eight cents per condom, these long-term problems will cost far more than packs of condoms provided at public school.
