Letters to the Editor
Birth control a personal choice
Rachel Liu,
Unfortunately, abstinence-only programs are a large part of the problem. The fact that one in four teenage girls has an Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) is a reflection of poor education. In states where abstinence-only education is taught, teenagers believe outrageous things like a shot of soda will prevent pregnancy and a cap full of bleach will prevent HIV infection. Could it be because over 80 percent of material presented in abstinence-only education is either misleading or completely false?
Since sex is a natural, enjoyabl and for the most part inevitable part of the human experience, education should focus on proper contraception, STI testing and relationship-building amongst partners, which includes respect, setting boundaries and promoting healthy sexual discussion. Most abstinence-only programs fail to cover such topics as rape, consent or victim guidance in a meaningful way, if at all.
And yes, HPV infection rates are high, but HPV can be passed via skin-on-skin contact, not exclusively sexual activity. HPV rates are high because this disease is mostly symptomless, and STI testing is not stressed in abstinence-only programs. Most people remain unaware that they even have the disease and unwittingly pass it along to their partners. And not every strain of HPV leads to cervical cancer. Thankfully, there is now an HPV vaccine which prevents the spread of the strains which can cause cervical cancer. Unfortunately, the same crowd who cries abstinence-only are also the ones who denounce the proliferation of this vaccine.
I would also like to know where you get your sources. How does being on birth control directly relate to contracting an STI? I’m fairly certain one does not cause the other. If you’re trying to make the point that because women are on birth control they are therefore engaging in high-risk sexual behaviors, that is ludicrous. What about all the married women who are on birth control because they, I don’t know, don’t want to have a child? Or all the non-sexually active women who are on it in order to regulate erratic menstrual cycles?
And once again someone is trying to make the argument that birth control and emergency contraceptives are dangerous medications which cause “blood clots, stroke, heart attack(s) or, in short, death.” Yes, there are rare complications that arise from taking birth control and emergency contraceptive just as there are rare complications that arise from taking just about every other medication on the planet. They are not, however, the norm. Most women experience no negative consequences at all.
I’m not even going to try and respond to the allegation that it is “statistically impossible to have sex with someone who is not a virgin who has not had contact with an STD.” It’s as ridiculous as the birth control/STI correlation assertion. Statistics can be skewed to say anything. Just ask a statistician.
Unfortunately for your argument, abstaining from sex until marriage is not a sure-fire way of preventing STIs. Maybe you abstained until marriage, but if your spouse had one partner before you, you could still be infected. Marriage does not protect people from STIs.
And I’d really like to see the peer-reviewed, scientific study which asserts that women suffer emotional damage from one-night stands because they feel “attached” to their partner. Sounds like voodoo science to me. Once again, studies and statistics can be skewed to say anything.
Finally, birth control is about women’s rights. It’s about every woman’s right to choose what’s right for her without having to be shamed for it by people who think there is only one right way to be sexually active. So don’t take pills and don’t engage in premarital sex if you don’t want to. That’s your prerogative. You won’t hear me trying to shame you for your choices, so please extend the same courtesy to the rest of us.
Sincerely,
Leigh Allen,
junior,
international business
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Apr 18 2008. Filed under Letters to the Editor, Opinion.
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