Commenting on the news of 12-year old girls having abortions in the U.K. and last week's hearings in the U.S. Congress in which several "sexperts" derided abstinence education, Family Watch President Sharon Slater brings some cold, hard and very important facts to the debate....“Safe sex” proponents claimed that abstinence programs do not work and that they do not prepare kids to protect themselves. They also pointed to studies purportedly proving their points.
So, who is right?
Over the past several years, I have been involved in HIV/AIDS prevention education programs in Africa. Even though literally billions of condoms have been distributed there, and billions more are being shipped in every year, the AIDS infection rates are not going down. In fact, in many places they are going up dramatically! Two years ago at the High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS at the UN, a doctor from Nigeria confirmed this when he told us, “Condoms are killing my people.”
That should tell us something about the real-world effectiveness of the approach of promoting “safe sex” through condom use.
On the other hand, there is clear evidence that abstinence programs are successful. Uganda is the classic example. It is the only African country that has significantly reduced its infection rate. In 2002, I invited the First Lady of Uganda, Janet Museveni, to give the keynote speech at a conference I chaired for UN delegates to discuss the reason for this success. She made it clear that Uganda’s success was due to the promotion of abstinence before marriage and fidelity in marriage and NOT the use of condoms.
So, why is that so?
Studies show that even many adults who intend to use condoms do not always use them consistently or correctly. They also show that condoms have significant failure rates. And although condom use can reduce pregnancy rates and HIV infections, abstinence can completely eliminate them.
Studies also show that children and teens who are having sex are even less prone to use a condom or use it correctly, even if they have been thoroughly educated in “safe sex” techniques. Simply put, many children are just not mature enough to decide to use a condom in the heat of the moment. A great deal of teen sex is unplanned (and adult sex too, for that matter).
It is unconscionable that schools anywhere would teach children that having sex at will and using condoms to protect themselves will keep them “safe.” In countries where HIV/AIDS infection rates are low, teen sex may lead to pregnancy, but in developing countries, and especially in Africa, teen sex is the equivalent of Russian roulette and can lead to HIV infection and death...
