According to a study done in 2009, more than half of Boston's teenagers are having sex, and 34 percent do so before age 14. While most of the nation reports a decline in teen pregnancy, Boston's statistics continue to climb at an alarming rate. And only nine Boston high schools offer condoms. All of them require parental permission.

A group of teens in Boston's Hub high schools, calling themselves the Hyde Square Task Force, are fighting to do something about that. They're fighting for more comprehensive sex ed and free condoms in schools.

Of course, religious groups are on top of things. One Catholic group insists that giving condoms to kids gives them the impression that premarital sex is “normative” (Isn't it, these days?), while another laments the “typical use” (which includes misuse and even occasionally not using condoms at all) pregnancy rate of 10-18 percent.

“Kids are having sex,” said Samantha Brea, a senior at Snowden International School at Copley. “Giving them a condom isn’t increasing their sexual activity. It’s just pushing them to have safer sexual behavior.”

Superintendent Carol Johnson is reluctant to allow free condoms in all Boston high schools, but has created a team to do research on the effects. Let's hope, for the kids' sake, they figure out that sex ed works.

(More Sex Feed)