My View
From my perspective as Executive Director of Choices Medical Clinic, which is a clinic specializing in helping women through unplanned pregnancy, it seems as if the one big goals of dating. is sex.
Perhaps this is no surprise to most readers and I'm not saying this is the goal of all who date, but certainly hormonal urges in addition to explicit television shows, commercials, movies, magazines, provocative dress, etc., help the subject occupy a foremost place in the mind.
While sex may be the first thing on the mind, 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 and is 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!
Caution may still prevail in the female mind, but there will be a beer company there to give out non-alcoholic beverages. Do beer companies really want to push non-alcoholic beverages? Don't they make their money selling beer? I suspect, I don't know for sure, but just possibly won't all of the people in a car drink more if they have a designated driver? And won't someone be more willing to be a designated driver if they can nurse a pseudo-alcoholic beverage while their friends are enjoying the "high life"?
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 become 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% of the time. If you use them 100% correctly. If they don't slip off. If they don't break. You'll probably be protected from AIDS. What about HPV? What's that you ask? Human Papillomavirus - it causes over 90% of cancer and precancer of the cervix, which in turn, is causing the deaths of approximately 5,000 American women yearly. Condoms offer almost no protection against this disease. It's the most common viral STD in the United States. Current estimates suggest that 5.5 million Americans acquire the infection each year.
A press release at www.hhs.gov/news/press/2001pres/20010720.html from the Department of Health and Human Services states that other than HIV and Gonorrhea, existing studies (they analyzed more than 138 peer-reviewed published studies) were insufficient to accurately assess [condom] effectiveness. There was no evidence that condom use reduced the risk of HPV infection. And we haven't even touched on Herpes and Syphilis.
While a March 9, 2004 editorial by Eagle columnist Randy Scholfield stated, " 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.
What if the condom breaks or slips off? Uh, oh! Better hand out some free pregnancy tests with those condoms - they'll probably need them. What if the test turns out positive? What next?
So, you see, the proposed giveaway of green Lepracondoms is irresponsible at best and deadly at worst. Lets think more of our kids than this.
Signed
Tim Wiesner, MSHA, ARNP
Scott Stringfield, M
Medical Director,
Choices Medical Clinic