Posted on Wichita Eagle Sat, Mar. 16, 2004 - COMMENTARY by Tim Wiesner)
From my perspective as executive director of Choices Medical Clinic, which specializes in helping women through unplanned pregnancy, it seems that the one big dating goal of many people is sex.
But while sex may be on the minds of many, pregnancy is the last thing unmarried people want to have happen to them. In most cases, unmarried girls don't want to be pregnant, and unmarried guys certainly don't want them to be. The mindset seems to be that having fun is one thing, but being responsible is a bummer to be avoided at all costs.
So, won't young unmarried people who are thinking about sex be more likely to engage in it if some cool guy or gal with a radio program and a microphone says, "Hey, here's a fun thing -- a green condom"? The proposed giveaway of green "Lepracondoms" by a local radio station in Old Town on St. Patrick's Day almost guarantees it. After all, popular thought is that this is one way to be responsible and have fun at the same time -- what a deal!
So, just picture it: Two young, unmarried people go on a date (fathers, picture your daughter here) out to the hot spots in Old Town. Someone hands them a condom. They giggle. The girl may blush. The beer flows. Inhibitions are lowered. Persuasive talk begins.
Guys who would never darken the doors of a debate classroom have suddenly become experts in forensics. "Come on, we've got protection ... everybody's doing it ... that's why they gave us these ... it'll be safe...."
Yeah, if you use them 100 percent of the time. If you use them 100 percent correctly. If they don't slip off. If they don't break. You'll probably be protected from AIDS. What about HPV?
Human papillomavirus causes more than 90 percent of cancer and precancer of the cervix, which in turn causes the deaths of about 5,000 American women yearly. It's the most common viral STD in the United States -- current estimates suggest that 5.5 million Americans acquire the infection each year -- and condoms offer almost no protection against it.
Although a recent Eagle editorial ("Just say no? Abstinence shouldn't be the only message," March 9 Our View) stated that "it's important to advocate both abstinence and condom use," it is clear that, if condom use is recommended, the truth about condom use should be included -- they provide only limited protection.
The proposed giveaway of green Lepracondoms is irresponsible at best and deadly at worst. Let's think more of our kids than this.