Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed legislation that would have provided students with free condoms at public schools — an attempt to reduce the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and drive down the rate of teen pregnancies.
The bill, which was written by Sen. Caroline Menjivar (D-Panorama City), would have also blocked retailers from refusing the sale of condoms to teen customers. Though Newsom agreed that increasing access to condoms was “important to supporting improved adolescent sexual health,” he rejected the bill due to the cost — an explanation that seems to have become boilerplate language for dozens of the governor’s vetoes in recent days.
“With our state facing continuing economic risk and revenue uncertainty, it is important to remain disciplined when considering bills with significant fiscal implications, such as this measure,” said Newsom in his veto statement.
The state was forced to deal with a $30 billion budget shortfall this year. Newsom said that the Legislature sent an array of bills to his desk, which — if all were to be enacted — would have saddled the state with $19 billion of unaccounted costs.
But for Menjivar, the cost argument doesn’t quite balance out. The nation spends $16 billion a year to treat individuals with sexually transmitted diseases, the senator said, citing the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly half of all sexually transmitted infections were acquired by those between 15 and 24 years of age.
“I get it. We are in a deficit,” said Menjivar. “But what are our priorities, and what can we actually end up saving money on?”
From 2009 to 2019, rates of gonorrhea among Californian youth have jumped from 94.5 cases per 100,000 in 2009 to 131.6 per 100,000 10 years later. Chlamydia rates have dropped, but only slightly, from 803 per 100,000 to 787.5 per 100,000 during the same time period, according to the latest data from the Population Reference Bureau. Though the rates of both infections plummeted in 2020, researchers largely attribute that drop to a lack of monitoring during the COVID-19 pandemic.
At El Cerrito High, students have had access to free condoms for years. The school’s wellness center, the James Morehouse Project, works in partnership with Contra Costa County’s public health division, and every time a student receives a condom, they sit down with a wellness center staff member for a health education visit. Jenn Nader, the center’s director, said that one in five students have utilized some form of sexual health care across the high school.
“At our school, we see how often students take advantage of (these resources),” said Nader, “They’re not looking for an unplanned pregnancy. They’re not looking for a sexually transmitted infection. If you give them the means to stay safe and healthy, they’ll do it.”
Down in Riverside, 18-year-old Ria Babaria had the opposite experience. Though she’s now a freshman at the University of California-Los Angeles, Babaria said her former high school didn’t provide condoms to students, and teens were turned away from buying condoms in stores because of their age.
“There are a lot of barriers that stop us from getting these resources,” said Babaria, who is also a student leader at Generation Up, a student-led advocacy group that co-sponsored the bill alongside Menjivar. “There’s a really big stigma on students having sex at this stage. But the thing is, it’s going to happen whether parents or adults like it or not. Giving (teens) the resources to practice safe sex is something that’s really not talked about enough.”
Newsom’s veto comes at a time when reproductive rights are at the forefront of the national conversation. Since Roe v. Wade — the federal right to abortion in place for 50 years — was overturned in 2022, 34 states have moved to restrict abortion access across the country, according to the research organization the Guttmacher Institute. In California, Newsom reiterated his support for abortion rights, and strengthened protections for patients and doctors.
Despite that, less than 5% of California’s students have access to a comprehensive school-based health center that offers reproductive services, according to the California School-Based Health Alliance, a nonprofit that works to strengthen health care in schools. Sometimes, Menjivar said, organizations are blocked from providing sexual health resources at schools in more rural or conservative areas — even if the state didn’t have to pay for them.
“As a nation, we are already being confronted with reproductive rights for all people being threatened,” said Angela Glymph, the chief executive officer of Peer Health Exchange, an Oakland-based nonprofit that connects schools to health education. “This decision to veto this bill feels like another one of those threats.”
