"It's Our City poll results about condom distribution in schools"

Thanks to all 189 of you who participated in our recent poll. In case you missed it, we asked our readers to weigh in on the issue about whether Philadelphia high schools should hand out free condoms. An overwhelming majority, 98%, voted YES. To get some national perspective on the issue, we looked around to see how our local poll compared.

First, we contacted The Gallup Poll to see what kind of data they had on school condom distribution. Turns out they didn’t have any recent information, and referred us to the 24th annual Gallup poll conducted in 1992, which included a question about condom distribution in public schools. The poll found that 68% of survey participants in 1992 supported such initiatives, though 25% said so with parental consent.

We didn’t find any current polls specifically about condom distribution. The most recent one we could find dates back to November 2007 and was conducted by Associated Press-Ipsos. The poll shows 67% of the survey participants supported the distribution of contraceptives in public schools to prevent teenage pregnancy, while 37% said so with parental consent. Here’s a link to a related article on the poll. It includes a quote from the CDC that nearly 5% of high schools nationwide provide condoms to students.

We did call the CDC for further information, and they referred us to a set of figures from 2006 about health education in schools surrounding HIV prevention. Please let us know if you’ve found any current national polls about condom distribution, and thanks again for your participation in our poll.