(LifeSiteNews) — The Maryland House of Delegates voted 89-41 to allow birth control to be sold in vending machines on public school grounds in what critics argue is an open invitation to youth promiscuity.
House Bill 380 would repeal the state’s existing prohibition that makes it a misdemeanor to “sell or offer for sale a contraceptive or a contraceptive device, whether or not advertised as a prophylactic, by means of a vending machine or other automatic device at a kindergarten, nursery school, or elementary or secondary school.” Violators must pay a $1,000 fine for each offending machine on school grounds.
ABC Baltimore affiliate WMAR reported that Republican state Del. Kathy Szeliga excoriated her Democrat colleagues for voting to repeal the measure.
“MD lawmakers have officially lost their minds. Condom vending machines in SCHOOLS – from preschools to high schools? Yes, you read that right,” she wrote. “Thanks to HB 380, the ‘Condoms for Kiddies’ bill, your child’s school could soon be a one-stop shop for birth control. What’s next, hormone therapy at recess? This is what happens when the people in charge put ideology over common sense.”
HB 380 now moves to the Democrat-controlled state Senate for consideration, where it is expected to pass. Pro-abortion Democrat Gov. Wes Moore is likely to sign it into law.
Birth control and even abortifacients in school vending machines are not a new idea; several other states have taken to offering abortion pills in them to college students as a way to sustain abortion-on-demand post-Roe v. Wade, regardless of the risks to the women they are supposedly serving.
But while supporters frame such policies as a simple matter of making “protection” available, critics warn that facilitating easy access to contraceptives gives tacit support to youth sexual promiscuity, exacerbating problems related to morality, teen pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases rather than curbing them.
Moreover, conservatives have long argued that much of that is by design. Planned Parenthood, for instance, is notorious for promoting ideas about underage so-called “safe sex” that are anything but.
Examples include its chatbot app “Roo,” intended for teens as young as 13 that suggested there is no right age to begin sexual activity and encourages birth control while also neglecting to note that no method is 100% effective; PP sex education executive Bill Taverner, who advocates teaching children about pornography; flyers distributed to middle schoolers telling kids they don’t need parents’ permission for abortion or birth control; “sex is hot” Facebook ads apparently targeted at teen girls; and much, much more.
For the abortion business, such advice has the added advantage of generating more demand for their “services.”