Check out this letter to the editor in today’s Washington Post:
Regarding the Jan. 13 letter by Jatrice Martel Gaiter, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, about mandatory vaccination for human papillomavirus (HPV):
Perhaps instead of vaccinating young people to prevent a disease transmitted by (promiscuous) sexual relations, or promoting artificial birth control and abortion to alleviate the problem of unwanted pregnancy due to promiscuous sex, Planned Parenthood and the District government should promote abstinence programs, whose main side benefit would be respect for the dignity of young women.
ISABELLE BUCHANAN
Kensington
Maybe nobody told Isabelle, but sperm doesn’t stop to question whether or not you’re ‘promiscuous’ as it’s making its way to the egg. As for HPV, 20 million Americans are infected and the virus doesn’t give a shit whether it’s being passed on through casual sex, intimacy in a long-term relationship, or marital relations.
It’s a moot point anyway, because Planned Parenthood does promote absintence as a 100% effective way to prevent pregnancy and the transmission of STDs. However, the organization recognizes that the big disadvantage to Abstinence-Only education is that most people will someday have sex - and without the proper education and willpower, they may be unprepared to protect themselves from STDs and unwanted pregnancies. Outside of Isabelle’s world, there’s no dignity in abstaining early on only to become a human incubator against your will later.
January 23rd, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Hey, she’s got a point. After all, the only thing that starts teens thinking about sex in the first place is learning about birth control.
Just tell ‘em it’s a “no-no” place and be done with it
January 23rd, 2007 at 5:57 pm
Teenagers will think about sex and sexuality regardless of whether or not they’re introduced to birth control. Abstinence-only education has been shown to have very little impact on teens, and it puts them at risk by not equipping them with the knowledge necessary to make good decisions when they do become sexually active. The risks associated with sex don’t disappear after marriage, and even those who choose to remain abstinent until then need to be taught how to best protect themselves from STDs and unwanted pregnancy.
Yes, it’s important that teens understand that abstinence is definitely the most effective way to avoid these risks - but it’s also important that they know how to reduce them when they start having sex, whether that be when they’re 17 or 37.
January 24th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Actually,my comment was meant to be sarcastic.
January 24th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
I am 15 and I got that injection, but the military doctors where I go for med care wouldn’t give it to me. I had to go to a separate doctor and pay for it on my own. And NO I am not having sex with anyone and I DO have a boyfriend.
That injection didn’t make me want to have sex or not to. But I am glad I took it anyway.
April 6th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
I don’t understand the feelings of “this promotes promiscuity” towards Gardasil. I mean, it’s a freaking vaccine for CANCER, let’s just forget whether or not it’s an STD for a moment and think about those three words, “vaccine for cancer”.
Also, I can’t link to the article cos it’s one my mom found and not I, but it’s actually possible to also pass HPV like herpes; skin contact. In some cases, the skin contact doesn’t even have to be sexual (say, a handshake).
May 26th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
Ummmm nowhere did it say ONLY PROMISCUOUS people get pregnant. It said “unwanted pregnancy due to promiscuous sex”. There’s a HUGE difference here. The were singling out one category of unwanted pregnancies.
May 27th, 2007 at 9:32 am
The author of this editorial claimed that artificial birth control and abortion (as well as the HPV vaccine) alleviated the problems of “promiscuous sex,” and would not be necessary if we had more abstinence programs.
I can get pregnant by my one-hundredth partner or my first and only. That would have NO effect on whether or not a pregnancy is wanted at this point in my life. There is no “singling out” one category of unwanted pregnancy and claiming the others don’t exist or don’t need prevention. Just about every woman - married or single, from EVERY background possible - has gone through periods in her life when pregnancy just wasn’t an option. Saying that artificial contraception and abortion are only needed by ‘promiscuous’ women is both insulting and false.