Condoms in Schools?

"Show the average American teenage male a condom, and his mind will turn to thoughts of lust."

"Show the average American teenage male a lug wrench, and his mind will turn to thoughts of lust."

-- The West Wing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V82I7vgzfgE

The above is taken from a television show, but it provides the best argument religious conservatives provide for not teaching safe sex practices or allowing access to condoms in schools. The idea that somehow this knowledge encourages kids to have sex is the cornerstone of their arguments for abstinence only education.

I grew up in Georgia, and attended high school in one of the reddest of red districts. In Health class, we weren't shown anything about condoms, and only got the basic message that STDs are bad, some of them can kill you, and the ones that don't sometimes can't be cured. The year I graduated, about half the girls in the senior class were either pregnant, already had a child, or had been pregnant at some point during high school.

Giving kids condoms is not going to go and make kids have sex. THEY ARE GOING TO HAVE SEX REGARDLESS! All that denying kids easy access to birth control does is prevent kids from having sex safely.

Think about it. When you were a teenager, if a grownup told you not to do something, wasn't your first reaction 'gee, I wanna do that'?

Educating our children about safe sex, and the consequences of STDs, is the best way to prevent teen pregnancies and the spread of STDs in our schools. Abstinence only sounds like a great thing, but we all see how well that's been working in our schools. Where was that 'abstinence only' education when Palin's girl got knocked up? How is that message working in Africa, where STDs like HIV are running rampant? How is that message working in Mississippi, a very red, very conservative state, that, as of 2006, ranked 3rd in the country for the most teen pregnancies?

http://womensissues.about.com/od/datingandsex/a/TeenPregStates.htm

It is time that religious groups face facts, and accept that the best way to stop teen pregnancy isn't to go into the same tired 'abstinence only' refrain, and instead support initiatives like what the city of Milwaukee is considering, and providing access to free condoms in area schools.

Because ignoring the facts won't change them.