Lawmaker Advocates for Legislation to Lift Contraceptive Ban in K-12 School Vending Machines – One America News Network
OAN Staff Abril Elfi
12:42 PM – Tuesday, February 25, 2025
The Maryland House of Delegates has passed a bill aimed at revoking a long-standing law prohibiting the sale of condoms and birth control via vending machines in public schools within the state.
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Delegate Nicole Williams (D-Md.) presented House Bill 380 (HB380), which seeks to eliminate the decades-old restriction on vending machine sales of contraceptives in K-12 public schools, which are financed by state taxpayers.
Penalties for non-compliance with this law include a $1,000 fine.
The bill summary on the Maryland General Assembly’s website states, “This bill repeals the misdemeanor prohibition against and associated penalty for selling or offering for sale a contraceptive or contraceptive device by means of a vending machine or other automatic device at a kindergarten, nursery school, elementary school, or secondary school.”
In response to the bill’s introduction, Delegate Kathy Szeliga (R-Md.) expressed her concerns, claiming that state lawmakers have “lost their minds” and urging parents to “wake up.”
“Maryland lawmakers have officially lost their minds. Condom vending machines in SCHOOLS—from preschools to high schools? Yes, you read that right,” Szeliga remarked following the bill’s approval in the House. “Thanks to HB 380, the ‘Condoms for Kiddies’ bill, your child’s school could soon become a one-stop shop for birth control. What’s next, hormone therapy during recess? This is the outcome when leaders prioritize ideology over common sense.”
The House approved the bill with a vote of 89 to 41, and it will now proceed to the Senate for review.
Although several states have overturned similar laws, Maryland remains one of the few states where selling contraceptives through vending machines in schools is still illegal.
Nevertheless, the law did not stop students from obtaining condoms, as school nurses, clinics, and outside organizations typically provided contraceptive access in various instances. However, it explicitly forbade the installation of vending machines as an option for distribution.
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