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Staff Editorial: Mail-order condoms

The Office of Student Health Services has just announced a plan to make condoms available to all students through the mail. For those who may find appearing in person at the Health Center or the FISH Bowl just a bit too personal, the new service offers the anonymity of CSU box — and the assurance that “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night” will hinder the prophylactics’ journey. The mail always goes through.

In our view, the policy just makes good sense, and where possible, we suggest expanding students’ access to contraceptives. According to a recent government study, one in four teen girls is infected with a sexually transmitted disease, and more unprotected sex certainly can’t improve that statistic. The National Institute of Health suggests that outside of abstention, condoms can significantly reduce the probability of transmitting these diseases.

Any effort to make condoms available to sexually active students, then, is a concomitant effort to ensure student health. Even if only a few students take advantage of the new program, it will have proved worthwhile.