Right: the Australian Education Union's Mary Bluett has said of the supply debate, `I see our role as assisting in educating young people around sex education, but not to be a dispenser of condoms'.
Arguments in favour of schools supplying students with condoms
1. Some students are having unprotected sex
Research has indicated that a significant number of students are having sex. A recent La Trobe University survey of 3000 students has shown a quarter of year 10 students reported having had sex, and this rose to half by year 12. The survey also found that students were having sex with more partners than previous research suggested. Many reported having had sex with three or more partners in the previous year.
The same survey also found that of those students who are sexually active, a majority of boys, but a minority of girls always use condoms. Sixty per cent of the young men and just 46 per of young women surveyed claimed that they always used condoms.
Supporters of making condoms more readily available in schools argue that these survey results indicate that there is a significant problem. The problem appears to be particularly acute for girls, who may feel more reluctant that boys to purchase condoms from a supermarket or a pharmacy. It has also been suggested that as young people are less likely to be in stable, on-going relationships, the likelihood of their having unprotected sex is greater. Therefore, it is argued, that all available opportunities to ensure that sexually active students can easily access condoms should be taken.
A recent Medical Journal of Australia article written by Rachel Skinner and Martha Hickey stated, 'Adolescents are undergoing developmental processes that may lead to risky sexual behaviours. Adolescence is characterised by a belief in one's immortality, a desire to experiment, the seeking of peer approval, relatively short-term relationships, and unrealistic expectations about the likelihood and consequences of pregnancy.'
Skinner and Hickey further stated, 'As adolescents delay seeking prescription contraception for an average of one year after initiating sexual activity, it is perhaps not surprising that half of adolescent pregnancies occur in the first six months of sexual activity.'
These attitudes and patterns of behaviour highlight the importance of making condoms readily available to school students.
2. Students are at risk of pregnancy and diseases
It has been argued that without ready access to condoms, some young people are at risk of pregnancy and diseases. A recent La Trobe University survey of 3000 students has shown a quarter of year 10 students reported having had sex, and this rose to half by year 12. Of the group survey, about five per cent of the girls became pregnant. This figure is actually lower than the national figure among teenage mothers which in 2007 was 16 births per thousand teenage girls.
While such figures are lower than the teenage pregnancy rate in the United States and also represent a decline in Australia over the last four decades, advocates of the improved availability of condoms argue that they are too high.
It has been noted that the apparent decrease in teenage pregnancies derives in part from the increased access of young women to abortion in the last four decades. Women's Health Queensland Wide states on its Internet site, 'This decrease is most likely due to the increased availability of contraception and access to abortion, rather than a decrease in sexual activity.'
A recent Medical Journal of Australia article written by Rachel Skinner and Martha Hickey stated, 'Accurate nationally representative data on teenage pregnancy in Australia, which would be crucial for planning and evaluating prevention programs, are currently unavailable, as most states do not mandate abortion notifications.
The reported average national abortion rate in 1997-1999 (based on Medicare claims, which are believed to be an underestimate) was 22 abortions per 1000 teenagers per year, compared with 19 live births.'
It has further been noted that without ready access to condoms, young people are at increased risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases.
Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) infection genital infection is one of the most common notifiable diseases in Australia, and the notification rate has been increasing over the past 10 years.
As CT infection often shows no symptoms, reported incidence rates are likely to be underestimates. The few surveys undertaken among Australian adolescents have reported rates of CT infection of up to 28%.
CT infection is the main cause of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), and adolescents are at greater risk of this complication than adults. PID may lead to tubal infertility, chronic pelvic pain and ectopic pregnancy.
Brian Burgess, the president of the Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals has stated that the issue of condoms in schools is a legitimate issue given there was a problem not only with unwanted pregnancies, but the rise of sexually transmitted infections.
Mr Burgess stated, 'So it's not just about young people's sexuality and when they first start having sex. It's actually a health issue.'
3. The availability of condoms does not promote sexual activity
It has been argued that the availability of condoms does not cause adolescent sexual activity. That approximately half those adolescents who are sexually active do not use any form of contraception appears to support this proposition.
It has been claimed that the preconditions for early sexual experimentation and pregnancy are far more complex than the availability of condoms. Women's Health Queensland Wide includes as risk factors - family situations with regular conflict between members;
violence and sexual abuse in childhood; unstable housing arrangements; low maternal education; father's absence and low self-esteem.
Lynne Jordan, the chief executive of Family Planning has stated, 'Having condoms more readily available - there's no evidence to suggest that actually increases sexual activity.' Ms Jordan further noted, 'There is absolutely no evidence to support the theory that having contraception available makes people go and have sex earlier, in fact if you speak openly about the risk and the responsibilities I think you'll find that people will be less likely to have sex.'
4. It will be up to school communities whether condoms should be supplied
No matter what Family Planning Victoria recommend or the Victorian Education Department ultimately decides, it is unlikely that schools will ever be required to make condoms available
Lynne Jordan, the chief executive of Family Planning has stated it would take several years of discussion between Family Planning Victoria, the Federal Government and schools before such a plan could be implemented.
Ms Jordan has indicated that even then it would be up to individual schools to decide whether to stock condoms and how to distribute them.
A Department of Education spokesperson has stated that condoms should be available only to year 11-12 students - and only if the school community supported the decision.
Thus there appears no likelihood that condoms will be made available in opposition to the wishes of a majority of parents in a school community.
5. Improved access to condoms is part of a holistic plan to reduce teenage pregnancies
There is no intention that improved availability of condoms would ever replace a holistic plan to discourage adolescent pregnancies and the transmission of sexually acquired diseases.
Sally Cockburn, the chair of Family Planning Victoria has indicated that the free condom vending machines would be incorporated into a larger education program.
Ms Cockburn has stated, 'You don't just plonk condoms in schools, you do it as part of a holistic approach.'
Family Planning Victoria has a 'Sex Life - The Youth Centre' specifically intended to give young people wide ranging advice on how to manage their sexual relationships and sexual identity.
The Centre's Internet site states, 'Safe, healthy sex is more than just using condoms. It is about feeling OK with who you are. There is the relationship stuff, the emotional stuff and then there is the physical stuff.
From what to do when the condom breaks or you forgot to use one to telling your partner that you just don't want to have sex and to feel OK about saying it.'
It has been claimed that condoms would never be made available in schools outside the context of a school's sex education program and their use would only ever be promoted as part of a responsible sexuality and human relationships program.
Bundoora Secondary College's sex education program has been presented as a model of desirable practice. The college's teachers devised the sex education program as a compulsory component of the school's health and physical education curriculum. Sexually transmitted diseases, relationships, drug education and contraception are covered in lessons that focus on responsible decision-making and clarifying values.