Who Should Be Responsible?

When it comes to teenagers engaging in underage sexual intercourse, who should be

responsible? Should the teenagers, parents, or maybe even the local school districts be
stepping in to provide condoms? Who will be responsible for slowing pregnancies and the
spread of STDs amongst teens? Let the truth be told, underage sexual intercourse is not going
away so why not make it safer; not encouraging sexual intercourse but to make it safer for
teens. Local high schools should provide condoms to teens through programs with policies that
require students to take a sexual education course; teens that have not yet completed the
sexual education course are required to see a counselor before receiving condoms from the
school district.
Many parents pose problems with the possibility of condoms being distributed in their
children's schools. Some parents say it is crossing their parental boundaries when they give
their kids access to condoms without parental consent. Except teens can go to many
supermarkets and gas stations and receive condoms for a low price without receiving parental
consent as well. According to Karen Mahler, the author of Condom Availability in the Schools:
Lessons from the Courtroom, [T]he students are free to decline to participate in the program.
No penalty or disciplinary action ensues if a student does not participate [and] the plaintiff
parents are free to instruct their children not to participate. The program does not supplant the
parents' role as advisor in the moral and religious development of their children. The court
noted that the program may indeed be offensive to the religious codes of parents in the district.
Nonetheless, the five-judge panel ruled unanimously that, in the absence of any obligation to
utilize the program, its existence did not pose a threat to constitutionally guaranteed rights
(Mahler, 5). Parents would complain that distributing condoms to students without parental
consent would be violating religious and parental rights, but the courts pointed out that no child
has to participate in the program and would receive no punishment for opting out.

Many parents and adults complain about the possible programs to distribute condoms to
teens, but consider the outcomes. Distributing condoms is not intended to encourage teens
to have sexual intercourse but its intent is to make sexual intercourse among teens safe.
According to Marina Munn, the author of Contraceptive Implants Are Better at Stopping
Teen Pregnancies, When teenage girls have babies, they are in danger. They more likely
will suffer serious health problems than mothers in other age groups and more often will
drop out of school and become stuck at low-income levels for life. Children of these teens
also navigate a tough road. They are prone to health and behavior trouble, tend not to do
well in school and frequently become teen parents themselves. Whereas condoms are best
for preventing sexually transmitted diseases, they are often not used, resulting in unwanted
pregnancies. Girls need other choices (Implants Are Better at Stopping Teen Pregnancies,
1). Providing condoms in schools give teenage girls another option and can prevent some
of the problems stated in the article Implants Are Better at Stopping Teen Pregnancies,
sometimes. Some people dont understand that they are just teenagers who make mistakes
and society is trying the best they can to prevent the life altering mistakes that many teens
make. Many people dont understand what teenage parents go through. Also people dont
understand what contracting a STD at their young age can be like. The solution for many of
these teenage problems could be as simple as making condoms more available.
According to Hal Marcovitz, the author of Chapter 2: Contraception: No Longer Taboo,
Today, teenagers have far less trouble finding condoms. Pharmacies no longer keep them
hidden behind the counter; now they are displayed in the aisles alongside toothbrushes, dental
floss, and pain relievers. And teens do not even need to go to the drugstore anymore. A
teenager with a credit card can buy them online from any of a number of Internet-based condom
merchants. Buying them is one thing. Using them is another story (Marcovitz, 2). According to
many adults, teens in this day and age have no problem getting a hold of condoms. They are
linking the availability of condoms to the rise in teen pregnancy and the spread in STDs among

teens. Because of this, states have taken many steps and required many rules for teens to
receive condoms from the school districts. Some schools have also put condoms in their
vending machines so you have to purchase them on your own as if you were going to your local
gas station.
At the end of the day you can only see things getting better by having programs in the
local school districts to distribute condoms to teenage students. Teens are not being
encouraged to contribute to the program and they are not being encouraged to go out and have
unprotected sexual intercourse. Parents and religious rights are not being violated by having a
program to reach out to teens in need, because teens are not forced to participate. Distributing
condoms in high schools will lower teen pregnancy rates. In the end it keeps kids from dropping
out of school and being stuck in a position in life which they cannot change because they will
not have the resources. Distributing condoms to teens will also slow the spread of STDs which
can take away the teens ability to reproduce later on by shutting down their reproductive
system. Slowing the spread of STDs can also save lives, mentioning the fact that AIDS takes
the lives of many people each year.
So in the end, what will you choose? You can choose to allow the programs in schools to
distribute condoms and change many of the awful things happening amongst teens. Or you can
choose to reject the programs from schools to distribute condoms and let the past keep
repeating itself, but it will get worse with every year that goes by. In the time it took you to read
this paper, 50 more men and women have been infected with the AIDS virus. So what side, will
you choose?

Works Cited
Mahler, Karen. Condom Availability in the Schools: Lessons from the Courtroom. Family
Planning Perspectives 28.2 (1996): 7577. Web.
Marcovitz, Hal. Chapter 2: Contraception: No Longer Taboo. Points of View Reference Center.
EBSCO. n.d. Web.
Munn, Marina. "Contraceptive Implants Are Better at Stopping Teen Pregnancies." Scientific
American. 01 Oct. 2015. Web.