Spring Break
Where the rubbers meet the road
Dan Fitzpatrick
Issue date: 8/13/08 Section: Forum
In my experience, defenders of abortion, contraception and Planned Parenthood have one main thing in common: they obfuscate and try to cloud the argument.
Sara Gwin's response to my last column was predictably filled with enough rhetorical straw men and red herrings to be the journalistic equivalent of the Scarecrow falling into a giant vat of Swedish Fish.
And Gwin would also have you believe that, like the Scarecrow with a brain, Planned Parenthood can "unravel any riddle - for any individdle - in trouble or in pain."
But the truth is that at the very least, Planned Parenthood is selling people sexual responsibility they could easily exercise for free. But at worst, it has resulted in the deaths of millions of unborn children.
In regard to sexual responsibility, Gwin once again asserts something I've addressed before - that she and her compatriots act as though sexuality is completely uncontrollable on the front end (no pun intended), citing "raging hormones" and confusion caused by society and "abstinence-only-until-marriage education."
Let's take a look at if this really is true: is it really not possible for young people to control their sexuality, and does it cause harm to teach them abstinence?
Perhaps the most astounding evidence that Gwin is flat wrong comes from Uganda, where the AIDS epidemic has hit the young population hard.
Following the institution of abstinence and Natural Family Planning programs, HIV transmission rates dropped from about 18 percent to about 6 percent, according to the Population Researcher Institute's Joseph D'Agostino.
Those combating the AIDS epidemic also have recognized the foolishness in promoting condom use, like Dr. George Mulcaire-Jones.
"In Uganda, where there has been an intensive AIDS prevention program centered on abstinence, HIV among 15-to-19-year-olds has dropped from 25 percent of the population in that age group to 9 percent," Mulcaire-Jones said.
"During the same period in neighboring Kenya, Malawi and Zambia - where AIDS prevention involved condom distribution and no change in sexual behavior patterns - there has been no drop in new infections. Why? Because in ideal, perfect conditions - in which the condoms are worn properly and are in perfect condition - condoms fail one in 10 times. So in perfect conditions it's not much of a guarantee, and they're seldom used in perfect conditions. Meanwhile, they send a message that sexual behavior patterns should continue on as they always have."
Sara Gwin's response to my last column was predictably filled with enough rhetorical straw men and red herrings to be the journalistic equivalent of the Scarecrow falling into a giant vat of Swedish Fish.
And Gwin would also have you believe that, like the Scarecrow with a brain, Planned Parenthood can "unravel any riddle - for any individdle - in trouble or in pain."
But the truth is that at the very least, Planned Parenthood is selling people sexual responsibility they could easily exercise for free. But at worst, it has resulted in the deaths of millions of unborn children.
In regard to sexual responsibility, Gwin once again asserts something I've addressed before - that she and her compatriots act as though sexuality is completely uncontrollable on the front end (no pun intended), citing "raging hormones" and confusion caused by society and "abstinence-only-until-marriage education."
Let's take a look at if this really is true: is it really not possible for young people to control their sexuality, and does it cause harm to teach them abstinence?
Perhaps the most astounding evidence that Gwin is flat wrong comes from Uganda, where the AIDS epidemic has hit the young population hard.
Following the institution of abstinence and Natural Family Planning programs, HIV transmission rates dropped from about 18 percent to about 6 percent, according to the Population Researcher Institute's Joseph D'Agostino.
Those combating the AIDS epidemic also have recognized the foolishness in promoting condom use, like Dr. George Mulcaire-Jones.
"In Uganda, where there has been an intensive AIDS prevention program centered on abstinence, HIV among 15-to-19-year-olds has dropped from 25 percent of the population in that age group to 9 percent," Mulcaire-Jones said.
"During the same period in neighboring Kenya, Malawi and Zambia - where AIDS prevention involved condom distribution and no change in sexual behavior patterns - there has been no drop in new infections. Why? Because in ideal, perfect conditions - in which the condoms are worn properly and are in perfect condition - condoms fail one in 10 times. So in perfect conditions it's not much of a guarantee, and they're seldom used in perfect conditions. Meanwhile, they send a message that sexual behavior patterns should continue on as they always have."
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Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Vanessa
posted 8/26/08 @ 7:54 PM PST
About the Facts:
I found your long quote from Dr. Mulcaire-Jones, which seems to have been cut and pasted directly from an article authored by the The Catholic Education Resource center. (Continued…)
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