Posted by Condom Depot on 06/21/2006
More Massachusetts teenagers who are sexually active are using condoms, according to a state survey released yesterday, 11 years after a landmark court ruling said schools could make them available to students.
The state survey, given to 3,500 teenagers in 51 high schools last year, shows that condom use has increased steadily since the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that schools could hand out condoms without parental consent.
More Massachusetts teenagers who are sexually active are using condoms, according to a state survey released yesterday, 11 years after a landmark court ruling said schools could make them available to students.
The state survey, given to 3,500 teenagers in 51 high schools last year, shows that condom use has increased steadily since the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that schools could hand out condoms without parental consent.
``We're really happy to see that," said Sophie Godley, deputy director of the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts. ``It gives me tremendous faith that young people in this state are hearing this message and taking care of themselves. They're taking the risks and dangers of sexual activity very seriously, and they should."
Sexual activity among teenagers has increased as the Bay State battles over how to teach students about sex. About 45 percent of teenagers said they had had sexual intercourse at least once, up from 41 percent in 2003, according to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a poll of student health and safety given every two years here and nationwide.
Sixty-five percent of sexually active students said they used condoms, similar to the national average and up from 57 percent in 2003.
Two months ago, Governor Mitt Romney, who is weighing a bid for the presidency, announced that the state would spend nearly $1 million in federal funds for abstinence education programs in school systems with high teenage pregnancy rates, including Boston, Lawrence, Lynn, and Lowell.
Romney has insisted that his plan is not ``abstinence only," but critics fear it would undermine the progress Massachusetts has made through sex education and condom availability.
In 2004, teenage pregnancy reached a low of 22 births per 1,000, a rate that is significantly below the national average, according to the state Department of Public Health. HIV diagnoses among teenagers also remain rare here; the state recorded 11 cases in 2004.
``He's playing politics with kids' lives," said Sarah Wunsch, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Massachusetts. ``If kids are going to be sexually active, they should be using condoms."
Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said abstinence should be the first choice for students, ``but if they're going to engage in risky behavior, they should definitely take precautions."
Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, who is running for governor, declined to comment on the survey. But in April she declined to fully back Romney's program and said she favored more comprehensive sex-education instruction.
It is unclear how readily available condoms are in Massachusetts schools, because the state doesn't track that. Schools that provide condoms generally do so through the school nurse's office, health centers, or vending machines. In 1991, Falmouth schools became some of the first in Massachusetts to hand out condoms, prompting a challenge from a group of parents who filed a lawsuit saying it infringed on their rights and religious freedoms. That suit triggered the 1995 SJC case that upheld the policy.
Cambridge Rindge and Latin School has a health center where students can request condoms, said principal Sybil Knight.
Holyoke, in Western Massachusetts, offers condoms in its high schools, with parents' permission, and also teaches abstinence, said Superintendent Eduardo Carballo.
``We believe that it is important for families to know what's going on, and it's the family's choice," Carballo said.
In Boston, school officials do not make condoms available, but students can get them at 13 school-based health centers, as long as they have permission from their parents and a referral from a primary care physician.
Sexual activity among teenagers had been declining for several years, from 47 percent in 1995 to 41 percent in 2003, until this year's increase.
Brian Camenker -- president of MassResistance, a nonprofit group based in Waltham that advocates for parents' rights -- questioned the survey's findings because they are self-reported by teenagers. He called for schools to avoid teaching about sex or giving out condoms.
``It's a rotten idea," said Camenker. ``It creates more sexual activity, and it sends the message to kids that you're not really responsible."
The survey generally revealed positive trends in young people's personal health in the state. The survey found that only half of teenagers had tried cigarette smoking last year, down from 72 percent a decade ago. Binge drinking declined to 27 percent of students last year from a third in 1995.
But nearly 80 percent of students had taken a drink, similar to the response in 1995.
Only 13 percent of students seriously considered suicide, down from 26 percent in 1995. About 15 percent said they had carried a weapon, up slightly from 2003.
Source By Maria Sacchetti, Globe Staff | June 9, 2006
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
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