Concerns arise over condom vending machines in schools, with worries about their potential placement in preschools prompting a lawmaker to issue a warning.

TERRIFIED parents are outraged after a bill advanced aiming to sell condoms through vending machines in public schools.

Concerns have been raised about the possibility of condoms being accessible to young children following a proposal that suggests public schools should be permitted to provide contraceptives to students.

The Maryland bill aims to legalize selling contraceptives, including condoms and birth control, through vending machines in public schools.

However, some lawmakers have warned that the law could lead to sex-positive devices being dispensed in elementary schools and preschool settings.

Maryland state Delegate Kathy Szeliga warned families to “wake up” about the idea in an appearance on Fox News’s America Reports.

“It makes no sense whatsoever,” Szeliga blasted on Wednesday.

Opponents of the idea argue that it could alienate families with more conservative values who do not wish for their teenage children to be able to obtain contraceptives easily at school.

In Maryland, the existing bill imposes legal repercussions, such as a $1,000 fine, on the sale of contraceptives through vending machines or similar automatic dispensing methods.

Anyone who violates the law is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Last Thursday, the Maryland House of Delegates voted to eliminate the penalties.

The move means there would be no misdemeanor prohibition for selling or offering condoms or birth control in vending machines at kindergartens, nursery schools, elementary schools, or high schools, according to the bill.

Szeliga said on X that state lawmakers “officially lost their minds.”

“Condom vending machines in SCHOOLS — from preschools to high schools? Yes, you read that right,” she wrote, slamming the rule as the “condoms for kiddies bill.”

She added, “Your child’s elementary school could soon have a colorful condom machine in the hallway.”

Social media users shared their outrage under the post.

“Honestly, anyone who invested any time drafting that bill needs to be removed from their elected seat,” one X user wrote.

Another blasted, “This is disgusting. No parent should tolerate this! This is what they need more tax dollars for? Shameful.”

“I can understand for high schools, but pre k, and elementary schools?” a third wrote.

Szeliga, along with other lawmakers, pushed to amend the rule to limit the vending machines to high schools only, but they were unsuccessful.

The delegate shared her concerns that the rule could force students to learn about sex before they’re mature enough to understand the complex topic.

“I am a grandmother of two beautiful ten and seven year-old girls and I can’t imagine them walking down the hall and seeing a colorful condom vending machine,” she said on America Reports.

“Then having to have a conversation with a 7-year-old,” she added.

“You know, ‘Mama, what’s a condom? What’s in that machine?’”

‘PLAYING CHESS’

Democrat Delegate Nicole Williams, who sponsored the bill, justified the move by saying it’s not a mandate for any school system.

“It’s just removing the criminal penalty,” Williams said at the general assembly meeting on February 4.

“The sky is not going to fall if we pass this bill.”

But Szeliga argued it’s a slippery slope.

“That’s how they start,” she warned, adding that Democrats are “playing chess.”

“First, we remove the penalties so we can get the vending machine in the high school and other schools as well, and then next year they’re going to come back, and they’re going to put birth control pills, Plan B, condoms,” she said.

Williams hasn’t returned The U.S. Sun’s request for comment.

After being approved by house delegates, House Bill 380 is now advancing to the state Senate for consideration.