WHY SEX EDUCATION AND CONTRACEPTIVES ARE STILL VITAL
By Schuyler ThorpeAuthor and Political Activist
Teen pregnancies are no laughing matter–no matter how much the Republican Party keeps cracking jokes and making fun of the whole idea; while denying funding for sex-education programs and covering contraceptives all the same time. (Like McCain has done.)
The truth of the matter, is that abstinence is no substitute for proven sex-education programs and contraceptives.
Abstinence just means you abstain from partaking in sex. It doesn’t protect you from unwanted pregnancies or sexually-transmitted diseases. (Should it occur.)
Contraceptives–in conjunction with sex-ed programs–will to some extent.
Bristol Palin is paying the price for such a mistake–either on her part as an uninformed teenager, her lack of a solid education, or her mother’s staunch opposition for sex-ed and contraceptives. (Which could’ve saved her from being pregnant in the first place.)
But she is paying that price nonetheless.
The sad fact to this whole affair is that McCain’s supporters, the religious right, and the so-called social conservatives whom are against teen pregnancies from the start (but have no problem with voicing their opposition to abortion) are rallying around Palin–acting like she’s some kind of heroine for allowing her kid to get pregnant at such a young age and seeing the baby to full-term.
But they don’t see just how hypocritical their stance on such a matter really is. They refuse to see why sex education and the use of contraceptives is so vital to our society is these days.
Whatever the down side to this matter eventually becomes, it won’t make the problem go away overnight. Bristol still has to deal with being a young, unwed mother–the same problem which thousands of teenage mothers have to go through every day here in the United States.
But the issue is still there. And sex-education and contraceptives are still a much needed deterrent against unwanted pregnancies.
Even if the Republican Party doesn’t want to deal with it–especially during one of their election years.
Schuyler Thorpe is an author, a political activist, and a frequent letter writer to The Everett Herald of Snohomish County. He can be reached at: starchildalpha1 at yahoo.com
Labels: abstinence, contraceptives, hypocritical, John McCain, politics, Republican Party, Sara Palin, sex education, teenage mothers
posted by Schuyler Thorpe @ 7:11 PM
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