April 30, 2004
Apparently, there are not enough condoms in America’s schools. And there is a group intent on fixing the problem.
They will soon introduce the “Putting Prevention First Act” in Congress. Prevention first? Promoting condoms? Where have these people been during the past ten years?
They need to check with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In June 2000, the CDC worked with experts from around the country to examine all major research on condom effectiveness. The results of this study exploded the claims that condoms are a “safe sex” approach.
In fact, the CDC study detailed a long history of condoms and their failure to protect. It finally nailed down the facts that document why we are in the midst of a raging epidemic of STDs. For one thing, virus and bacteria live on the body outside areas covered by the condom. Even the body contact required to put on a condom can spread STD infections.
Condoms, even if used consistently and correctly, fail to secure the health of our children. Don’t take my word for it.
Ask the CDC. Their fact sheet spells it out, “No protective method is 100 percent effective, and condom use cannot guarantee absolute protection against any STD.”
Today, serious and lifelong STD infections run rampant. One such STD, human papilloma virus (HPV) is the primary cause for over 99% of all cervical cancer. What does that mean to you and your children?
More women die each year from cervical cancer than from AIDS. Cervical cancer occurs in approximately 13,000 women every year in the United States, and kills almost 5,000 American women yearly. Many of these are young women…in the prime of their life…mothers who leave behind husbands and children.
Five to six million Americans become infected with genital HPV every year. Twenty million Americans are currently infected with the virus, and another 80 million have been infected at some time in the past. This means that 75 percent of sexually active Americans are or have previously been infected.
HPV is only the first STD on a very long list of failures of the condom to protect the health of sexually active people. Certainly, Americans need prevention. And we need it now. But what exactly is “prevention”?
Ask the CDC. They spell it out on their fact sheet. “The surest way to avoid transmission of sexually transmitted diseases is to abstain from sexual intercourse, or to be in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who has been tested and you know is uninfected.”
We have had over thirty years of condom education, condom distribution and condom reassurance. One organization promoting condoms to our children received over $240 million dollars from the government in 2001-2002 and expended $40.7 million for sex education.
Today, do we need to throw good money after bad? Do we need really need more government money to teach our children the intricacies of using a condom that will fail to protect them?
Sure. Let’s put prevention first. But anyone who is serious about sex and prevention will not be fooled into wishful thinking about condoms. They will stand for truth. Research proves that condoms do not offer the kind of protection that will keep our children safe.
If we really believe prevention comes first, we will take the time to get our facts straight. And we will deliver the facts in an uncompromising message that our children hear.
Prevention first, second, third and fourth means exactly one thing. Healthy sex belongs inside a marriage commitment between two people who will love each other for a lifetime.
See April 2, 2004: Sex Education: Spinning the Truth