Free Condoms in 22 Phila. high schools

PHILADELPHIA - December 27, 2012 (WPVI) -- The Philadelphia School District is installing condom dispensers in high schools over the winter break.

Students will have to go to the nurse's office to get the free contraceptives.

They'll be available in 22 public high schools, as long as the student's parents did not opt out of the program.

The schools were chosen for having the highest rates of STD's in the city.

Deputy Mayor Don Schwarz says, "Ten years ago we had higher rates of condom use among young people than we do currently in Philadelphia, and at the same time, rates of sexually transmitted infection have gone up pretty dramatically in the city. So while we don't think that condoms are the full answer we believe that they are part of that answer."

Schwarz says it is still a parent's role to educate their children about safe sex.

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