(Don't) Just Do It.

Since I did an article about this organization that recently received a $2.4 million three-year grant for abstinence education, my flame has re-ignited. I said this in high school and it remains my belief: Abstinence is NOT a form of contraception.

The Random House Websters College Dictionary defines contraception as: the deliberate prevention of conception or impregnation by any of various drugs, techniques, or devices; birth control.

Therefore, abstinence does not fall under that definition. I say this because it literally makes no sense. It made no sense when I was 16 and it still doesn't. You can not go to the clinic, or your ob-gyn, or the drug store and ask for a prescription for abstinence the way you would for the Pill, injections, and condoms. Birth control is what is used to prevent STDs and pregnancy when a person has sex. You can not "use" abstinence when having sex to prevent the transmission of disease. The total inaccuracy of this education bothers me (likely why teens who pledge to abstain from sex have high STD infection rates), but it also bothers me when people say that abstinence is in the same rank as birth control methods-which are all physical, tangible preventative techniques-and not think twice about it.

We need to stop miseducating our youth. Rather than totally avoid discussion of sex (read: Abstinence-Only Education) or the reproductive system so that 18 year old girls don't know what a cervix is, we should instead inform them about their bodies, and arm them with as much information as possible. Teach them about abstinence, but only as an "alternative" to sexual intercourse. Birth control is the contraceptive method for sexually active indviduals; therefore it nullifies the concept of abstinence=birth control. Clearly it's not effective in practice, when teens who are only knowledgable about abstinence don't know how to use a condom. It's just plain silly to even entertain the thought that showing a teen how to use a condom, or what a female condom looks like is going to "encourage" them to have sex. And in any case, they were probably already going to have sex anyway so at least you have given them a way of protection. Much like the woman from Advocates for Youth whom I interviewed for my story said, to believe that sex education leads to sexual deviancy is likened to saying giving out umbrellas will cause it to rain. Just foolish.

Much like you cannot apply abstinence as a form of birth control, you do not see women walking around wearing diaphrams for GP. I deliberately omit the Pill in this part of the discussion because it can be prescribed for women who have other female health issues (a two-fer!). But the point remains: just as you can not have abstinence as your method of contraception when having sex, you do not see men walking around wearing condoms just because. One implies the other. Abstinence is the opposite of sex. It is a choice, not a contraception method.

Therefore when we teach our children about sex, we should inform them that they either choose to engage in sexual activity, or they choose not to; however should they choose to have sex, comprehensive sex education will prepare them with contraceptive methods. Abstinence not being one of them.